Enron

Executives at high-flying Enron Corp. (ENE ) never seemed overly concerned with how the rest of the world viewed their business practices. Earlier this year, the California Attorney General had to get a court order to collect documents in an industrywide investigation into energy price fixing. And when an analyst challenged former CEO Jeffrey K. Skilling in a conference call to produce Enron's balance sheet, Skilling called him an "ass----." Still, even some Enron executives worried …

…empire to all manner of commodities--from advertising space to steel--will be forced to scale back its grandiose visions. That's something some investors applaud. "The company should focus on its strengths," says William N. Adams, senior energy analyst at Banc of America Capital Management, a major shareholder. But that's a far less exciting place than Enron's energy cowboys ever hoped to roam. By Stephanie Anderson Forest and Wendy Zellner in Dallas, with Heather Timmons in New