Lehman Brothers, with an asset base of over $600 billion filed for bankruptcy. This was at a time when the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the two leading economies in Africa was less than $600 billion — Nigeria at $208.1 billion, South Africa at $287.1 billion, according to World Bank figures. Its assets also far surpassed those of previous bankrupt giants such as WorldCom, whose asset base was over $107 billion and Enron's over $63 billion, making Lehman's bankruptcy filing the largest in history. It was unprecedented in the history of the United States — that a 158-year-old company, with the size, scope and reach of Lehman Brothers could file for bankruptcy.