Although it ultimately ended in disaster for Enron, with a
stopped project producing no income and a $900 million investment wasted, it
made Rebecca Mark into even more of a rock star.
The press was fawning:
"from near disaster, Mark and Enron have wrestled a victory," wrote
Forbes. Pulitzer Prize-winning energy historian Dan Yergin told Fortune:
"Rebecca is tops in her business." Jeffrey Garten, the dean of the
Yale School of Management, said to Institutional Investor: "Enron has gained
tremendous respect for their manner abroad... What developing countries want,
especially in sophisticated energy industries, is first-rate American companies
with the best of American management and technology. That's what Rebecca gives
them." Garten added that Mark and Lay were "clearly willing to take
major risks before they know what the endgame is in a business with huge
capital requirements, and they are willing to stick it out through the ups and
downs."
Both inside and outside the company, there was speculation
that Mark would be Enron's next CEO. Enron International accounted for more
than 15 percent of the company's earnings in 1996, and Enron was soon
predicting that its earnings from International would grow at 20 percent per
year for the foreseeable future.
The parade was magnificent. The actual results, however,
came up short.
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Posted at 3:09AM on Oct 4th 2005 by Simon