In just over 15 years, it turned itself from a regulated natural gas company into one of the world's largest energy traders. When energy giant Enron collapsed in December, thousands of employees lost their jobs and life savings. 

July 1985
Houston Natural Gas merges with InterNorth, a natural gas company based in Omaha, Nebraska, to form the modern-day Enron. The firm is an interstate and intrastate natural gas pipeline company with 37,000 miles of pipe.

1989
Enron begins trading natural gas commodities. It soon becomes the largest natural gas merchant in North America and the United Kingdom.

November 1999
Launch of Enron Online, "an internet-based global transaction system which allows Enron's customers to view real-time prices from Enron's traders and transact instantly online". Within two years the platform is averaging 6,000 transactions a day worth about $2.5bn.

December 2000
Chief executive Kenneth Lay steps down, but stays on as chairman. Enron's president and chief operating officer Jeffrey Skilling to take over in February.

28 December 2000
Shares hit a record high of $84.87 - making Enron the country's seventh most valuable company.

14 August 2001
Jeffrey Skilling resigns after just six months; Mr Lay returns to day-to-day management of the company.

15 August 2001
Enron employee Sherron Watkins sends letter to Kenneth Lay warning of accounting irregularities that could pose a threat to the company.

20 August 2001
Mr Lay exercises Enron share options worth $519,000.

21 August 2001
Mr Lay exercises Enron share options worth just under $1.48m.

October 2001
Accounting firm Andersen begins destroying documents relating the Enron audits.

The destruction continues until November when the company received a subpoena from the Securities and Exchange Commission.

15 October 2001
Mr Lay calls Commerce Secretary Don Evans, but officials say the call dealt with a troubled Enron energy project in India and did not cover Enron's financial troubles.

16 October 2001
Enron reports losses of $638m run up between July and September and announces a $1.2 billion reduction in shareholder equity.

The reduction in company value relates to partnerships set up and run by chief financial officer Andrew Fastow.

22 October 2001
Securities and Exchange Commission opens inquiry into a possible conflict of interest related to the Enron's dealings with the partnerships set up by Mr Fastow.

23 October 2001
In a conference call Mr Lay tries to reassure investors and defends Mr Fastow's work.

24 October 2001
Enron sacks Mr Fastow.

28 October 2001
Enron chief executive Kenneth Lay calls Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill to inform him of the financial problems facing the company. A second conversation takes place on 8 November.

Mr O'Neil says he declined to help the company, as he could not detect any ripple effects in financial markets from Enron's troubles.

29 October 2001
Mr Lay calls Commerce Secretary Don Evans again, asking him whether he could do anything to influence a decision by Moody's Investors Service to downgrade Enron's credit rating.

Mr Evans does not intervene, saying it would not be appropriate to influence a decision by a private credit rating agency

31 October 2001
The SEC inquiry is upgraded to a formal investigation.

8 November 2001
Enron revises its financial statements for the past five years. Instead of the massive profits claimed previously, the firm now says it actually lost $586m.

9 November 2001
Rival energy trader Dynegy announces it will take over the much larger Enron for more than $8bn in shares.

19 November 2001
Enron says its third-quarter losses are higher than originally stated, and warns it needs to find financing for a $690m debt due by the end of the month.

 

Major exposure

JP Morgan: $900m Citigroup: up to $800m Credit Lyonnais: $250m Dynegy: $75m Mirant: up to $60m American Electric Power: up to $50m El Paso: up to $50m Centrica: $43m TotalFinaElf: $25m

Less than 24 hours after rival firm Dynegy announced that it had pulled out of a deal to rescue Enron, companies around the world are totting up how much they may lose if the company collapses.

Enron's business partners admitted exposure of more than $2bn (£1.4bn) to the stricken energy giant, and the figure could go much higher as its finances are investigated.

 

20 November 2001
Enron's share price drops to its lowest level in 10 years - shedding nearly 23% in one day - as investors worry whether the company can survive its financial troubles.

21 November 2001
Enron secures an extension of its $690m debt payment.

26 November 2001
Enron shares fall a further 15% to $4.01.

28 November 2001
Dynegy pulls out of the takeover deal after Enron's credit rating is downgraded to junk bond status.

Enron shares plunge below $1 - the stock experiences the heaviest single-day trading volume in history for firm listed on the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq

Shareholders suffer
The last exposure is the thousands of investors who own Enron shares, which have fallen from a high of over $90 last year to below 50 cents by now. Enron's shares are widely held among pension funds and other big investors, but also used to be popular among the general public, as the firm received years of favorable press coverage.

 

	Brian Youngberg, energy analyst "Based on assets, this would be the largest bankruptcy in history
	Paul Garratt, Utilities Weekly magazine editor "There will be volatility in the market if a player of this size disappears"

2 December 2001
Enron files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and sues Dynegy for wrongful termination of the merger.

As the collapse unfolds the company bars its employees from selling the company shares locked into their retirement plans.

9 January 2002
The US Justice Department confirms it has begun a criminal investigation of Enron.

10 January 2002
The White House confirms that Enron boss Kenneth Lay lobbied for government support shortly before the company collapsed.

The company's auditor Andersen acknowledges that its employees destroyed some Enron documents.

Attorney General John Ashcroft, who received campaign funds from the company for his 2000 Senate race, excludes himself from the investigation - as does the 100-strong team of federal investigators in Houston, where Enron is based.

12 January 2002
The Justice Department names Joshua Hochberg, head of its fraud division, as acting attorney to oversee the criminal investigation into Enron.

Criticism of accountancy firm Andersen's role in the collapse of energy giant Enron is mounting, as officials continue to probe the auditor's destruction of key documents relating to the firm.

At the same time, a rival firm - KPMG - has been censured for investing in a client it was responsible for auditing.

15 January 2002
Andersen fires executive David Duncan who was in charge of auditing Enron and places three other employees on administrative leave.

16 January 2002
Enron shares delisted on New York stock market.

21 January 2002 Shredding 'continued' at Enron
A former executive with the bankrupt American energy giant Enron says documents were destroyed despite court orders forbidding this.

CNN web special: Enron with update links

BBC report: Rise and fall of an energy giant