Enron assets up for auction
As Enron souvenirs grab high prices at auction, the company that had a spectacular bankruptcy belly-flop plans to sell some assets at an official bankruptcy auction.
Among the 1,400 items being sold are servers, routers, desktop computers and the de rigueur--and pricey--Herman Miller Aeron chairs. Asset auction company DoveBid will run the auction at one of Enron's Houston warehouses on Sept. 25 and 26. Potential bidders can attend or bid over the Internet at DoveBid's Web site.
Once the largest energy trading company in the nation, Enron imploded last fall after it admitted to repeatedly misstating its earnings. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last December.
Following the bankruptcy filing, Enron items became a hot commodity on eBay, with former employees listing hundreds of items with the Enron logo or name on them, including a baseball, ballpoint pens and commemorative stock certificates.
DoveBid is still putting together a list of items that will be in the bankruptcy auction, said Kirk Dove, president and chief operating officer of DoveBid. But the auction will include some late-model computer equipment, nice office furniture and "elegant" office art, he said.
The downfall of a number of high-profile companies has meant big business for DoveBid. The company sold some of Enron's European assets in February, garnering about $6 million in bids, Dove said. The company also ran asset auctions as part of the Webvan and Excite@Home bankruptcies.