Welcome to The Globe and Mail’s business and investing news quiz. Join us each week to test your knowledge of the stories making the headlines. Our business reporters come up with the questions, and you can show us what you know.
This week: Clothing manufacturer Gildan Activewear Inc. aired some laundry in public, announcing that a nasty proxy battle, which unfolded over six months ultimately cost the company US$76.8-million, including US$33-million in legal and advisory fees. On Thursday, the Canadian clothing maker of T-shirts and fleece apparel published an accounting of the battle between Gildan’s former board of directors and a group of shareholders led by U.S. investment firm Browning West.
Also: CGI, the Montreal-based consulting company, announced a new quarterly cash dividend of 15 cents per share starting in the first quarter of 2025, a rarity among Canadian tech companies. And BCE announced its earnings jumped 63 per cent year-over-year to $537-million in the company’s second quarter.
1Ottawa is facing a difficult decision after giant BYD Co. of China declared its intention to enter the Canadian market. What exactly does BYD want to do?
a. Sell electric-vehicle (EV) passenger cars
b. Mine lithium in Quebec
c. Develop AI software for banks
d. Install solar-power systems for homes
a. Sell EV passenger cars. What a mess. The Liberals want more Canadians to drive EVs. However, they are feeling pressure to follow the United States and the European Union and impose large tariffs on Chinese makers of bargain-priced EVs. This would protect local jobs, but it would also raise the price of imported EVs and deter more Canadians from buying one.
2The federal privacy commissioner said this week he is investigating which company after a recent data breach?
a. Royal Bank of Canada
b. Indigo Books
c. Ticketmaster Canada
d. Air Canada
c. Ticketmaster Canada. The investigation follows the U.S. parent of Ticketmaster Canada’s disclosure this month that a data breach may have affected the personal information of millions of users worldwide. Oops.
3It was a busy week for global central banks as the U.S. Federal Reserve, the Bank of England and the Bank of Japan each announced interest rate decisions. What was the final scorecard on all this bankerly hubbub?
a. Two held rates steady, one cut
b. One held rates steady, two cut
c. One held rates steady, one cut, one raised
d. One held rates steady, two raised
c. One held rates steady, one cut, one raised. The Federal Reserve held rates steady (although it hinted at a cut in September). The Bank of England cut. The Bank of Japan raised. And here you thought all central bankers were alike.
4Who promised to make the United States “the bitcoin superpower of the world”?
a. U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris
b. U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump
c. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell
d. JPMorgan Chase chief executive Jamie Dimon
b. U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump. Mr. Trump told a bitcoin convention in Nashville that he would make the U.S. the global “crypto capital” and establish a strategic bitcoin stockpile if elected. His new enthusiasm is quite a shift from his stand three years ago when he called bitcoin “a disaster waiting to happen.”
5TC Energy Corp., the Calgary-based pipeline giant, said it reached a deal this week to sell a $1-billion minority stake in its Western Canadian pipeline system to:
a. A Chinese investment fund
b. Warren Buffett’s flagship Berkshire Hathaway
c. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos
d. A consortium of Indigenous communities
d. A consortium of Indigenous communities. TC Energy has been selling assets to reduce its debt load. The consortium that is purchasing the minority stake includes 72 Indigenous communities in British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan.
6Why did Meta Platforms, which owns Facebook, agree this week to pay Texas US$1.4-billion?
a. It wants to buy access to the state’s wind power
b. It wants to take over a campus of the state’s college system and turn it into Facebook U.
c. It wants to gain rights to the state’s extensive birth and death registry
d. It wants to settle allegations that it used biometric data of users without permission
d. It wants to settle allegations that it used biometric data of users without permission. The lawsuit stems from Facebook’s now-discontinued facial-recognition feature. Texas said the feature violated state laws against capturing or selling a user’s biometric information, such as their face, without the user’s permission.
7Good news for scam artists. The Supreme Court of Canada decided this week that fraudsters can avoid punitive fines from securities regulators by:
a. Declaring bankruptcy
b. Leaving the country
c. Sacrificing their Canadian citizenship
d. Promising not to transact in securities again
a. Declaring bankruptcy. The judgment reversed two lower court decisions. It further constrains the power of market watchdogs, which already struggle to collect many of the fines they impose.
8Bill Ackman, the colourful U.S. hedge fund manager and online provocateur, set out to raise US$25-billion in capital for his new investment vehicle. What ultimately happened?
a. He exceeded his goal
b. He withdrew his offering after investors showed little interest
c. He reduced his goal to US$2-billion
d. He met his goal – from just one investor
b. He withdrew his offering after investors showed little interest. Mr. Ackman initially whittled his goal down to US$2-billion then scrubbed the entire deal this week. He says he will return with a revised plan.
9Why was Lion Electric, the Canadian maker of electric school buses and trucks, in the news this week?
a. It secured a long-term contract to supply buses to New York City
b. It laid off much of its work force
c. It went public
d. It attracted a $150-million investment from a Saudi investment fund
b. It laid off much of its work force. Shares of the Saint-Jerome, Que.-based company crashed after the company said it would cut another 30 per cent of its workforce. The company’s shares, which hit $24.21 in 2021, slid below $1.
10We all know that office landlords are facing tough times as remote work reduces the demand for traditional office space. There are exceptions, though. In which city are office rents hitting record highs?
a. New York City
b. Calgary
c. Miami
d. Austin
c. Miami. Low taxes and great beaches are hard to beat. The pandemic helped accelerate a mass migration of legal, financial and tech companies to Florida. The influx is driving rents for high-end offices to record peaks.
3Which Canadian technology company announced this week it would start paying a dividend?
a. CGI
b. Shopify
c. BlackBerry
d. Celestica
a. CGI, the Montreal-based consulting company, said it would start paying a quarterly cash dividend of 15 cents per share in the first quarter of 2025. It will become only the fourth of the 10 largest technology companies on the Toronto Stock Exchange to pay a dividend.
12How much is the Jasper wildfire expected to cost insurers?
a. About $100-million
b. About $250-million
c. About $500-million
d. About $700-million
d. About $700-million. Morningstar DBRS estimates the insured losses from the Jasper fire will top $700-million, with tourism businesses making additional claims. This would make it Canada’s second-costliest fire, exceeded only by the 2016 inferno in Fort McMurray, Alta.
Answer all of the questions to see your result
