fw : wsj skilling interview 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 page a 2 ( 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 .
copyright ? 2000 dow jones & company , inc . all rights reserved .
fw : wsj skilling interview
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 page a 2 ( 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 .
copyright ? 2000 dow jones & company , inc . all rights reserved .