Energy giant Enron has announced its return, making waves both in the corporate and entertainment worlds. Once synonymous with corporate scandal and bankruptcy, the company has come back with a new public identity and leadership. Headed by this bizarre rebirth is 28-year-old Connor Gaydos, known primarily for co-creating the satirical “Birds Aren’t Real” conspiracy theory.
But who is Gaydos, this figure known more for humor and satire, ending up as the CEO of the newly relaunched Enron?
Earlier in December 2024, a website and public presence for the newly rebranded Enron popped up online and into billboards around the Houston area. The news stunned many, given Enron’s history of fraud and eventual collapse in the early 2000s.
But what happened next was even more surprising: leading figure in the parody world, Gaydos, was named as the new CEO.
Magan Redino and Daniel Wong, who becomes the chief technology officer, round out the leadership team. And Rich Sybert joins as general counsel. There’s something ironic, of course, about such a serious name attached to this company’s relaunch.
Gaydos posted a video on this, during which he said Enron’s “dark past” notwithstanding, the company’s “ground-breaking” plans will soon be known.
A Satire At Its Core
However, Enron is not a relaunch as it seems. On the terms and conditions of its website, the company has included a disclaimer stating that it is “First Amendment protected parody” and that it functions as “performance art” created for entertainment purposes. This fits perfectly with Gaydos’s background as a satirist.
He is also the co-owner of ‘The College Company,’ the Arkansas-based entity that now holds the trademark rights to the Enron logo.
For those who do not believe, the whole operating of the company can be viewed within Gaydos’s larger vision – that is, mixing satire with real life, something he already is famous for in the way of “Birds Aren’t Real.”
Connor Gaydos: From Birds Aren’t Real To Enron’s CEO
Connor Gaydos was one of the founding members of the “Birds Aren’t Real” movement. This is a satirical, humorous conspiracy theory that holds birds to be government surveillance drones. It was originally created as a parody to mock the growing trend of misinformation and wild conspiracy theories.
Today, it is a popular movement with dedicated fans, complete with official college chapters and a highly engaged online community. The movement is, therefore, due to Gaydos and his accomplice Peter McIndoe who created all kinds of faked evidence, historical documents, and even testimonies to make this unbelievable.
Gaydos’s company, ‘The College Company,’ bought the Enron name for $275 in 2020. Since then, social media accounts under the Enron name have promoted the relaunch, using the original Enron logo in advertisements. A recent full-page ad in the Houston Chronicle boldly declared, “We’re back. Can we talk?”
This step has been met with a mix of interest and scandal. For many, the Enron name still stirs up memories of scandal, corporate malfeasance, and the collapse of one of the largest energy companies in U.S. history. But for Gaydos, it seems like a chance to marry his peculiar style of humor and performative art with a real-world corporate entity. Only time will tell if this very unorthodox rebranding will make good of the hype surrounding its re-emergence.
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