Global Crossing

GLOBAL CROSSING, Ltd. is an international telecommunications business delivering phone and data services to Europe, Asia, and Latin America. Global Crossing went public in August 1998 at a split-adjusted $9.50 per share, and barely seven months later, its price had soared to $64. Its market capitalization, at $47 billion, briefly exceeded that of General Motors.

Like many of the other high-tech companies of the 1990s, Global Crossing's grand corporate status was brief. It was plagued with unstable management (five chief executive officers in four years) and with accusations of questionable accounting practices. Global Crossing filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on January 28, 2002. The company's bankruptcy, at $26 billion, was the fourth largest in U.S. history ranking just after Enron Corporation at $63 billion, Texaco at ...