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: The Competition Bureau signed off on National Bank of Canada’s proposed $5-billion takeover of Canadian Western Bank. The federal watchdog approved the second planned takeover of one of the country’s 10 largest banks in the past year. In March, Royal Bank of Canada purchased HSBC Bank Canada for $13.5-billion. But that wasn’t the only news concerning the bureau, which levied a fine against Cineplex. And speaking of show business, the Prime Minister wasn’t quite ready for prime time, but he did make a splash on late-night television.
a. Lumber. Mr. Colbert asked Mr. Trudeau about the issues that divide Canada and the U.S. – such as the duties on Canadian softwood lumber that the U.S. nearly doubled in August. Mr. Trudeau replied that Americans are paying too much for lumber because of the tariffs.
c. Drawing customers into a purchase without fully disclosing the final cost. The Competition Bureau levied the record fine on Cineplex for deceptive marketing practices. According to the bureau, Cineplex misled consumers by not immediately presenting them with the full price of tickets when they purchased them online. The company said it plans to appeal the decision.
a. 1972. The report from the Building Industry and Land Development Association says Ontario now has the lowest number of new housing starts per new resident since 1972, when records began.
d. Reopen the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania. Microsoft’s agreement with Constellation Energy sets the stage for the first ever restart of a nuclear power plant in the United States. The deal appears to reflect both Microsoft’s desire to reduce carbon emissions and the soaring estimates of how much power will be required by new AI applications.
c. 29 per cent. As of Thursday morning, gold had soared 29 per cent this year. It has been driven higher by several factors including central bank buying, falling real interest rates and bullion’s ability to function as a haven in times of economic and political stress.
b. Two years. Ms. Ellison was sentenced to only two years in prison in recognition of her extensive co-operation with prosecutors. Many observers had speculated she would avoid jail time entirely, but Judge Lewis Kaplan rejected the notion that remorse and co-operation should be a “get out of jail free card” in a fraud of this magnitude.
b. Rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs. Can you imagine the conversations? Mr. Bankman-Fried, who is serving a 25-year sentence for his massive crypto fraud, is now sharing a barracks-style housing area in a New York City jail with 20 or so other inmates who require special protection. His dorm mates include Mr. Combs, who was recently arrested on sex-trafficking and racketeering charges.
d. Antitrust violations. The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit accusing Visa of suppressing competition by threatening merchants with high fees and paying off potential rivals.
c. Lightspeed Commerce. The board of Montreal-based Lightspeed has hired JP Morgan Chase to run a strategic review of the point-of-sale software vendor. The review includes a potential sale to a rival tech company or private equity fund, according to a source familiar with the situation.
a. Augmented-reality glasses. Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg described the chunky black glasses as offering “the physical world with holograms overlaid on it.” However, the product is still in development and Meta won’t likely be shipping AR glasses before 2027.
b. She resigned from OpenAI. Ms. Murati, chief technology officer at OpenAI, announced she was leaving the artificial-intelligence pioneer. Her departure is the latest in a string of high-profile resignations at OpenAI, maker of ChatGPT. The startup, which began as a non-profit research organization, is now regarded as one of Silicon Valley’s most valuable enterprises. However, the spate of resignations highlights the stresses facing OpenAI as it seeks to transform itself into a for-profit company
d. US$200,000 or more a year. Top-scale port workers now earn a base pay of US$39 an hour or just over US$81,000 a year, but with overtime and other benefits, some make in excess of US$200,000 annually.