Top Corporate Bankruptcies

The collapse of Lehman Brothers didn’t just shake up Wall Street: It also made American corporate history. The company’s bankruptcy filing is the largest ever in the U.S. based on total assets before the filing.

Here’s a list of the biggest bankruptcy filings in American business:

1. Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., Sept. 15, 2008: $639 billion

2. Worldcom Inc., July 21, 2002: $103.91 billion

3. Enron Corp., Dec. 2, 2001: $63.39 billion*

4. Conseco Inc., Dec. 18, 2002: $61.39 billion

5. Texaco Inc., April 12, 1987: $35.89 billion

6. Financial Corp. of America, Sept. 9, 1988: $33.86 billion

7. Refco Inc., Oct. 17, 2005: $33.33 billion

8. Global Crossing Ltd., Jan. 28, 2002: $30.19 billion

9. Pacific Gas and Electric Co., April 6, 2001: $29.77 billion

10. UAL Corp., Dec. 9, 2002: $25.2 billion

11. Delta Air Lines Inc., Sept. 14, 2005: $21.8 billion

12. Adelphia Communications, June 25, 2002: $21.5 billion

13. Mcorp, March 31, 1989: $20.23 billion

14. Mirant Corp., July 14, 2003: $19.42 billion

15. Delphi Corp., Oct. 8, 2005: $16.59 billion

* Enron assets were taken from its quarterly Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Nov. 19, 2001; the company announced that the financials were under review at the time of filing for Chapter 11.

Sources: New Generation Research, Inc., AP Research, CNBC.com.

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