transcripts of steve cooper ' s voicemails on january 29 , 2002 , enron named stephen f . cooper interim ceo and chief restructuring officer . to keep employees informed about developments , mr . cooper left voicemail messages to employees on january 29 and february 8 . since some employees do not have access to voicemail , we are providing the following transcripts of those messages .
stephen f . cooper voicemail
friday , february 8 , 2002
hi everybody . this is steve cooper . it ' s about 1 : 00 or 2 : 00 o ' clock houston time , friday afternoon . it ' s been a pretty hectic week , but i ' d like to take just a moment to bring everybody up to date so that everybody is fully in the loop with what ' s gone on this last week .
beginning last weekend , the board ' s special investigative committee released a fairly lengthy report - in fact it ' s about 200 odd pages , and it ' s fairly pointed and blunt . the report was troubling , and as i ' m sure any number of you has seen from the various investigatory committees this week , its findings have further dented our corporate history . nonetheless , i just wanted to let you know that my role and the job i ' m paid to do , and hopefully , the job all of you are getting paid to do , is to look forward and proceed that way at 100 percent full speed . i continue to believe we really have a lot to look forward to .
the committee and the report didn ' t offer any specific recommendations . rather , it just compiled what they believed to be a series of facts about transactions that have been undertaken over the last several years . enron ' s board , management and creditors ' committee are now working together to evaluate the reports ' findings and take whatever action is required . i , like many of you , am looking forward to management changes that result from these actions because to successfully to restructure the company , we ' re going to have to have a management team in place that is credible , that ' s committed to moving forward for the future , that is trusted by our outside constituents , and are firmly committed to make a new enron work . next week , after the board meeting , i hope to be able to share with you the management changes that are being contemplated and outline a team that jeffrey and myself are compiling to rebuild the company .
the washington hearings this week heated up considerably and made for some either very dull or very expected or pretty interesting television viewing . and obviously , this has been translated into the daily headlines . hopefully , these investigatory processes will continue to help uncover and address any past misconduct or negligence surrounding enron . and with this , i ' m sure we ' ll be able to establish appropriate safeguards for employees and shareholders going forward - not only for enron - but for other corporations . this situation , i believe , will have a national impact .
it ' s going to force the big five accounting firms to change the way they do business - in fact it already has .
it ' s going to bring in new and more effective reporting rules .
it ' s going to put more teeth into the sec , .
arisa is going to be modified .
there ' s not a doubt in my mind that congress or these committees are eventually going to look at wall street and the commercial banks and put them in their sites .
during the last week i ' ve spent almost all my time dealing with the company ' s creditors ' committee and chatting with individual members of the committee to understand their current thinking , concerns and issues so we can begin to construct with them an absolutely open agenda , a free flow of information , a free flow of communications , and begin to work with them to develop a plan to reorganize enron . as i continue to look at our various businesses , i ' m as optimistic as i was a week ago that there is a reorganizable platform here that ought to allow us , if everybody is reasonable and responsible , and we can begin to put some of our emotions aside to create a viable strong company that ought to be able to be successfully reorganized .
in any event , i ' ll continue to keep you updated as we move forward . in the meantime , if you have any specific questions or comments about enron or its restructuring or anything else that ' s on your mind , don ' t hesitate to either send me an e - mail or give me a buzz and i will do the best i can to respond as quickly as possible . if my response isn ' t satisfactory the first time around - just buzz me again .
listen everyone , have a wonderful weekend and i hope to see you next week in houston . bye - bye .
stephen f . cooper voicemail
tuesday , january 29 , 2002
good morning everyone , this is steve cooper ? it ' s the morning of january 29 th and i wanted to take an opportunity to introduce myself and tell you how pleased i am to have been selected as enron ' s interim ceo . my firm , zolfo cooper , my partners and i have assisted hundreds of companies as they have worked their way through the restructuring and reorganization process . i just wanted to give you some of my thoughts about it as we move forward .
i can ' t imagine what the past few months have been like for all of you . i ' m sure it ' s been incredibly difficult , particularly with the glare of the media attention and the numerous investigations and inquiries that have been launched and continue to be launched . in that environment , i ' ve got to believe it ' s difficult , if not impossible , for you to focus on what lies ahead for enron and for the organization .
i ' m not going to bother to restate what is in the press release announcing my selection and our new management team this morning , however , i ' d like to tell you how we typically approach situations like this .
it ' s been the experience of myself , my firm , my partners , that in helping companies emerge from bankruptcy , we look at a number of key metrics to gauge the potential for successful restructurings . those metrics are typically the organization , the asset base that the company has to bring to bear , customer base , and liquidity . from what i ' ve been able to tell over the last couple of days and with my exposure to the management team here , enron has a very , very bright , very capable , very committed , hardworking and dedicated organization . all of the people i have met are committed to reorganize , restructure and bring enron to a successful new beginning and emerge from bankruptcy .
number 2 , the physical assets look to me to be of an enormous advantage here . the regulated assets , the pipelines , the generating plants provide steady and reliable cash flow and provide a very sound fundamental base to restructure around .
third , loyal customers . most of enron ' s customers have continued to stand by the company and continue to take delivery of natural gas and electricity on a daily basis .
and fourth , liquidity looks good with the cash the company has on hand , the cash it expects to generate in the near term , and with the backstop of the dip financing , it doesn ' t appear that we will have any liquidity issues going forward .
with those four resources nicely in place , i ' m very confident that we can successfully restructure this company . i don ' t want to leave the impression that it will be easy . it ' s going to be an enormous amount of work . there will be upsets , issues , and concerns along the way . but i can tell you that i ' ve seen companies in bankruptcy that don ' t have nearly as strong a position as this company . they were able to emerge successfully from bankruptcy , and i ' m certain enron will also .
i ' m looking forward to working with all of you over the next few months and i ' m very pleased to be here . jeff , ray and i will keep you informed on a regular basis as we move forward . if there are any thoughts , concerns , issues that you would like to bring to my attention , please don ' t hesitate to drop me a note or give me a call .
thanks so much , and i look forward to working with all of you .
transcripts of steve cooper ' s voicemails
on january 29 , 2002 , enron named stephen f . cooper interim ceo and chief restructuring officer . to keep employees informed about developments , mr . cooper left voicemail messages to employees on january 29 and february 8 . since some employees do not have access to voicemail , we are providing the following transcripts of those messages .
stephen f . cooper voicemail
friday , february 8 , 2002
hi everybody . this is steve cooper . it ' s about 1 : 00 or 2 : 00 o ' clock houston time , friday afternoon . it ' s been a pretty hectic week , but i ' d like to take just a moment to bring everybody up to date so that everybody is fully in the loop with what ' s gone on this last week .
beginning last weekend , the board ' s special investigative committee released a fairly lengthy report - in fact it ' s about 200 odd pages , and it ' s fairly pointed and blunt . the report was troubling , and as i ' m sure any number of you has seen from the various investigatory committees this week , its findings have further dented our corporate history . nonetheless , i just wanted to let you know that my role and the job i ' m paid to do , and hopefully , the job all of you are getting paid to do , is to look forward and proceed that way at 100 percent full speed . i continue to believe we really have a lot to look forward to .
the committee and the report didn ' t offer any specific recommendations . rather , it just compiled what they believed to be a series of facts about transactions that have been undertaken over the last several years . enron ' s board , management and creditors ' committee are now working together to evaluate the reports ' findings and take whatever action is required . i , like many of you , am looking forward to management changes that result from these actions because to successfully to restructure the company , we ' re going to have to have a management team in place that is credible , that ' s committed to moving forward for the future , that is trusted by our outside constituents , and are firmly committed to make a new enron work . next week , after the board meeting , i hope to be able to share with you the management changes that are being contemplated and outline a team that jeffrey and myself are compiling to rebuild the company .
the washington hearings this week heated up considerably and made for some either very dull or very expected or pretty interesting television viewing . and obviously , this has been translated into the daily headlines . hopefully , these investigatory processes will continue to help uncover and address any past misconduct or negligence surrounding enron . and with this , i ' m sure we ' ll be able to establish appropriate safeguards for employees and shareholders going forward - not only for enron - but for other corporations . this situation , i believe , will have a national impact .
it ' s going to force the big five accounting firms to change the way they do business - in fact it already has .
it ' s going to bring in new and more effective reporting rules .
it ' s going to put more teeth into the sec , .
arisa is going to be modified .
there ' s not a doubt in my mind that congress or these committees are eventually going to look at wall street and the commercial banks and put them in their sites .
during the last week i ' ve spent almost all my time dealing with the company ' s creditors ' committee and chatting with individual members of the committee to understand their current thinking , concerns and issues so we can begin to construct with them an absolutely open agenda , a free flow of information , a free flow of communications , and begin to work with them to develop a plan to reorganize enron . as i continue to look at our various businesses , i ' m as optimistic as i was a week ago that there is a reorganizable platform here that ought to allow us , if everybody is reasonable and responsible , and we can begin to put some of our emotions aside to create a viable strong company that ought to be able to be successfully reorganized .
in any event , i ' ll continue to keep you updated as we move forward . in the meantime , if you have any specific questions or comments about enron or its restructuring or anything else that ' s on your mind , don ' t hesitate to either send me an e - mail or give me a buzz and i will do the best i can to respond as quickly as possible . if my response isn ' t satisfactory the first time around - just buzz me again .
listen everyone , have a wonderful weekend and i hope to see you next week in houston . bye - bye .
stephen f . cooper voicemail
tuesday , january 29 , 2002
good morning everyone , this is steve cooper ? it ' s the morning of january 29 th and i wanted to take an opportunity to introduce myself and tell you how pleased i am to have been selected as enron ' s interim ceo . my firm , zolfo cooper , my partners and i have assisted hundreds of companies as they have worked their way through the restructuring and reorganization process . i just wanted to give you some of my thoughts about it as we move forward .
i can ' t imagine what the past few months have been like for all of you . i ' m sure it ' s been incredibly difficult , particularly with the glare of the media attention and the numerous investigations and inquiries that have been launched and continue to be launched . in that environment , i ' ve got to believe it ' s difficult , if not impossible , for you to focus on what lies ahead for enron and for the organization .
i ' m not going to bother to restate what is in the press release announcing my selection and our new management team this morning , however , i ' d like to tell you how we typically approach situations like this .
it ' s been the experience of myself , my firm , my partners , that in helping companies emerge from bankruptcy , we look at a number of key metrics to gauge the potential for successful restructurings . those metrics are typically the organization , the asset base that the company has to bring to bear , customer base , and liquidity . from what i ' ve been able to tell over the last couple of days and with my exposure to the management team here , enron has a very , very bright , very capable , very committed , hardworking and dedicated organization . all of the people i have met are committed to reorganize , restructure and bring enron to a successful new beginning and emerge from bankruptcy .
number 2 , the physical assets look to me to be of an enormous advantage here . the regulated assets , the pipelines , the generating plants provide steady and reliable cash flow and provide a very sound fundamental base to restructure around .
third , loyal customers . most of enron ' s customers have continued to stand by the company and continue to take delivery of natural gas and electricity on a daily basis .
and fourth , liquidity looks good with the cash the company has on hand , the cash it expects to generate in the near term , and with the backstop of the dip financing , it doesn ' t appear that we will have any liquidity issues going forward .
with those four resources nicely in place , i ' m very confident that we can successfully restructure this company . i don ' t want to leave the impression that it will be easy . it ' s going to be an enormous amount of work . there will be upsets , issues , and concerns along the way . but i can tell you that i ' ve seen companies in bankruptcy that don ' t have nearly as strong a position as this company . they were able to emerge successfully from bankruptcy , and i ' m certain enron will also .
i ' m looking forward to working with all of you over the next few months and i ' m very pleased to be here . jeff , ray and i will keep you informed on a regular basis as we move forward . if there are any thoughts , concerns , issues that you would like to bring to my attention , please don ' t hesitate to drop me a note or give me a call .
thanks so much , and i look forward to working with all of you .