About the Show
CNBC presents the documentary that delves into one of history's greatest business scandals.
Narrated by Peter Coyote, the film unfolds like a drama with the emotional power of Greek tragedy, taking you inside as top executives walk away with more that $1 bullion and investors and employees lose everything.
ENRON: The Smartest Guys in the Room is the inside story of one of America's greatest business scandals, in which top executives of the country's seventh largest company walked away with more than $1 billion while investors and employees lost everything.
The story begins in 1985 when Enron was formed through the merger of Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth, the Omaha, Neb. natural gas company.
By 2000, the company had grown into the largest natural gas merchant in North America, eventually branching out into trading other commodities, including water, coal and steel. Meanwhile, Jeff Skilling is named CEO, and the company stock skyrockets.
But when Enron's sleight of hand accounting and unethical trading eventually meet the realities of balance sheets that don't balance and products that don't exist, unwitting employees whose financial futures are anchored to the Enron ship watch in horror as it quickly sinks.
