Enron has been resurrected in what appears to be an elaborate joke

It’s the comeback story no one asked for — the resurrection of a brand so toxic it remains synonymous with corporate fraud more than two decades after it collapsed in bankruptcy. That’s right, folks: Enron is back. But only kind of.

It’s the comeback story no one asked for — the resurrection of a brand so toxic it remains synonymous with corporate fraud more than two decades after it collapsed in bankruptcy. That’s right, folks: Enron is back. But only kind of. TL;DR: A company that makes T-shirts bought the Enron trademark and appears to be trying to sell some merch on behalf of the guy behind the satirical conspiracy theory “Birds Aren’t Real.” No, this is not a bit. Here’s the longer version: On Monday, the 23rd anniversary of Enron’s filing for bankruptcy, rumors began to spread that the former Texas energy giant had come back from the dead. A sleek new website, enron.com, appeared to show that the company had done some serious soul-searching and, inexplicably, reincorporated under its original brand. As a modern energy company, it would be dedicated to “solving the global energy crisis,” its press statement reads. The site is packed with the kind of stock art and benign corporate platitudes that lend it credibility. There’s a link to job openings, employee testimonials and even a minute-long video titled “I am Enron,” a movie-trailer-style mashup of cityscape time lapses, rockets launching into space, a ballerina twirling on a beach — a mess of imagery and baritone voiceover so trite it’s almost believable. But the site and its associated social media accounts are, like Enron’s balance sheets, mostly fiction. Unlike the Enron scandal, however, this one appears to be little more than performance art designed to sell branded hoodies.