Thanks so much; it was a tough week, but I am very proud of how the whole team handled it.  Mark, Jeff and I worked on the attached and I agree with your assessment, but IR was not pleased.  Hopefully, we can all move on now and get back to the work at hand.  As much as I enjoyed working with Jeff and looked up to him for his intellectual leadership, I feel like the whole place is energized by Ken's obvious competence, calm, and heart.  I have never felt better about working here.
 -----Original Message-----
From: 	Mahoney, Peggy  
Sent:	Thursday, August 16, 2001 1:36 AM
To:	Palmer, Mark A. (PR); Kean, Steven J.
Subject:	Enron Corp.: Enron's Skilling Cites Stock-Price Plunge    As Main Reason for Leaving CEO Post

I'm sure you have heard this from lots of people - you guys did an amazing job handling this
issue from the beginning.  All communication was well orchestrated - external and internal!!
I'm especially proud to read this article.  This is the Enron I know and love - honest, open, human
and smart!!   I'm not sure if you guys advised Jeff or if he spoke so candidly on his own - either
way it was a great job.  Thanks!!!
---------------------- Forwarded by Peggy Mahoney/HOU/EES on 08/16/2001 01:28 AM ---------------------------

 
djcustomclips@djinteractive.com on 08/16/2001 01:28:10 AM
Please respond to nobody@mail1.djnr.com
To:	1529@WCTOPICS.djnr.com
cc:	 
Subject:	Enron Corp.: Enron's Skilling Cites Stock-Price Plunge    As Main Reason for Leaving CEO Post


Enron's Skilling Cites Stock-Price Plunge
As Main Reason for Leaving CEO Post
By John R. Emshwiller

08/16/2001
The Wall Street Journal
A2
(Copyright (c) 2001, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.)

  Jeffrey K. Skilling said that the pressure he felt from Enron Corp.'s
plummeting stock price was the main reason he decided to resign Tuesday
as the energy giant's chief executive officer after only about six
months in the job.

   In an interview yesterday, the 47-year-old Mr. Skilling elaborated on
his decision to leave Houston-based Enron. On Tuesday, Mr. Skilling
insisted he had resigned for "personal reasons" unrelated to Enron's
business activities.
   In the interview, he reiterated that he wasn't under any pressure to
resign from the company's board or Chairman Kenneth Lay, who has resumed
the CEO's duties at the nation's biggest energy trader.

   However, yesterday Mr. Skilling said that his "personal reasons" were
deeply enmeshed with feelings that he had failed in a crucial business
area during his brief tenure as CEO. Calling the company's stock
performance a "kind of ultimate score card," Mr. Skilling noted that
Enron's share price had fallen by some 50% this year.

   Mr. Skilling said he took that stock-price drop very personally. "I
put a lot of pressure on myself" for that decline, he said. "I felt I
must not be communicating well enough" with investors. He felt this
particularly given Enron's strong financial results over the past
several quarters, based largely on growing volumes in its trading
business, which covers a range of items, including electricity, pulp and
paper.

   If the stock price had remained up "I don't think I would have felt
the pressure to leave," he said.

   In January, Enron topped $84 a share in New York Stock Exchange
composite trading. It closed Tuesday, before the announcement of Mr.
Skilling's resignation, at $42.93 a share. As of 4 p.m. yesterday, Enron
traded at $40.25, after falling below $37 during the day.

   Mr. Skilling, who had been at Enron 11 years, said the depressed
stock price was particularly tough to explain to fellow Enron employees,
many of whom are shareholders. "People would say `What is going on with
the stock, Jeff?' I would have to say I didn't know. It has been
frustrating," said Mr. Skilling.

   The self-portrait offered by Mr. Skilling in the interview is rather
different from the widely held image of him as an ambitious, bright and
thick-skinned business strategist whose long-held goal had been becoming
Enron CEO. Mr. Skilling said that the "final straw" in his decision to
leave had come on a visit last week to England in connection with the
deaths of three Enron workers in a power-plant accident there. That trip
helped reinforce "how tenuous life is," said Mr. Skilling, who has three
children from a previous marriage and recently became engaged.

   While Mr. Skilling said Enron is in "great shape," his departure
raised anxiety in the investment community. Merrill Lynch, for instance,
lowered its rating on Enron to neutral from buy based on "uncertainty"
created by the resignation.

   Yesterday, an Enron spokesman confirmed that Mr. Lay plans to name
two executives to the existing "office of the chairman" within the next
few days or weeks. The spokesman said Mr. Lay hadn't yet revealed whom
the two would be. The office of the chairman had consisted of Mr. Lay
and Mr. Skilling.



Folder Name: Enron Corp.
Relevance Score on Scale of 100: 81

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