In the late 1990s, Skilling refined the trading model further. He noted that
“heavy” assets, such as pipelines, were not a source of competitive advantage that
would enable Enron to earn economic rents. Skilling argued that the key to
dominating the trading market was information; Enron should, therefore, only
hold “heavy” assets if they were useful for generating information. Consequently,
the company began divesting “heavy” assets and pursuing an “asset light” strategy.
As a result of this strategy, by late 2000, Enron owned 5,000 fewer miles of natural
gas pipeline than when the company was founded in 1985—but its gas financial
transactions represented 20 times its pipeline capacity.