The “new” Enron Corp. will be a smaller company, based on hard assets with predictable revenue and cash flow, its new interim CEO said in his first press conference Wednesday night in Houston. He also was emphatic in talking about what caused the Fortune 100 company to go under so quickly. “I frankly don’t care,” said Stephen Cooper.

Cooper, who spent about 30 minutes talking with reporters around the country, said that Enron’s new platform is being evaluated “literally every day,” and in the next month, the company’s senior management will get organized to understand what Enron will look like in the future. “We are going to drive this against a very fast timetable,” said Cooper. While he couldn’t discuss specifics, he said it would move at “light speed.”

What it will become, he is certain, is a smaller company. “I think we’re going to have in the main domestic and international entities dedicated to natural gas and the movement of electricity,” said Cooper. “There is a second undertaking, which is the sale of businesses or assets that are hard, and then the wind down of a number of our terminated or live contracts that will require an additional organization.” He said assets the company may sell are still being reviewed, along with structure and staffing — there could be more job cuts.

Noting that he “can’t imagine how difficult it’s been for Enron’s employees over the last several months,” Cooper said with the “distractions” it was “surprising how they’ve been able to keep the focus on business as well as they have.”

For now, Cooper and his team will be looking at four metrics: organization; business involved with the entities served; the entities’ customer base; and cash on hand. Admitting he had only been there for a “couple of days,” Cooper said nonetheless, “my sense is that Enron has a tremendous, tremendous organization…people are very bright, very dedicated.” He will focus on “whatever it takes to have a successful reorganization,” but he said he will not “look in the rear-view mirror.” When asked what he thought had caused Enron’s meltdown, Cooper said he didn’t care. “We are keeping our eye on the objective…and to ensure within that context, that we preserve as many jobs as possible.”

He also expects the internal report on Enron to be completed within the next week, and once it is released, he is prepared to do “whatever it takes” to make sure there are no more problems. He also said no new auditor had been selected, and that may delay fourth quarter earnings reports.

©Copyright 2002 Intelligence Press Inc. All rights reserved. The preceding news report may not be republished or redistributed, in whole or in part, in any form, without prior written consent of Intelligence Press, Inc.