The company got $500 million of debtor-in-possession financing and said, "Worldwide operations are continuing without interruption and our vendors will be paid in full for all goods furnished and services provided after the filing date." It made a court motion seeking permission to keep paying its 7,000 workers.

Mirant's slow slide began with the rest of the merchant energy industry's with the decline of Enron in 2001, was exacerbated by allegations of wrongdoing in the California energy market and became unsalvageable because of a long slump in the price of power.

"Although we received broad support from the company's creditors on our restructuring plan, failure to obtain the timely support of our key lenders created substantial uncertainty in the marketplace about the outcome of these discussions," Mirant said. "This, in turn, put a strain on our liquidity and threatened the feasibility of our business plan. Add to this, uncertainty about the timing of the recovery in power prices and a slow economic recovery in the U.S., and it became clear that a comprehensive financial reorganization was the best approach for our stakeholders."