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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.


1In a U.S. television appearance this week, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told late-night host Stephen Colbert that Americans pay too much for what?
a. Lumber
b. Drugs
c. Bacon
d. Health care

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.

2Theatre operator Cineplex was fined $38.9-million this week for “price dripping.” What’s that?
a. Gouging customers for ancillary purchases such as soft drinks and popcorn
b. Temporarily bumping up prices so it can offer a supposed “discount” on them
c. Drawing customers into a purchase without fully disclosing the final cost
d. Selling discounted tickets that come with hidden restrictions

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.

3A new report declares that Ontario’s pace of home construction per new resident has fallen to its lowest level since ...
a. 1972
b. 1992
c. 2002
d. 2012

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.

4Is nuclear power back? Maybe so. Microsoft raised eyebrows when it recently signed a deal to:
a. Install a small modular nuclear reactor at its Seattle headquarters
b. Rely on nuclear sources to power half its energy needs by 2035
c. Take a large stake in a company exploring nuclear fusion
d. Reopen the Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania

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.

5Is gold back? Without a doubt. So far this year, the precious metal is up roughly:
a. 10 per cent
b. 18 per cent
c. 29 per cent
d. 38 per cent

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.

6True crime time. Caroline Ellison, an executive at Alameda Research, which was affiliated with the now-bankrupt FTX cryptocurrency exchange founded by her former boyfriend Sam Bankman-Fried, was sentenced this week in New York for her role in the theft of US$8-billion in customer funds. How much prison time did she receive?
a. One year
b. Two years
c. Five years
d. None

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.

7More true crime! The aforementioned Mr. Bankman-Fried is now dorm mates with which other well-known person in a New York City jail?
a. Film producer Harvey Weinstein
b. Rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs
c. Subway pitchman Jared Fogle
d. Singer and songwriter R. Kelly

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.

8What did the U.S. Department of Justice accuse credit card giant Visa of this week?
a. Misleading advertising
b. Invasion of customers’ privacy
c. Money laundering
d. Antitrust violations

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.

9Which Canadian tech company put itself up for sale this week?
a. Kinaxis
b. Nuvei
c. Lightspeed Commerce
d. Absolute Software

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.

10Meta Platforms proudly showed off a prototype for Orion this week. What the heck is Orion?
a. Augmented-reality glasses
b. A virtual-reality helmet
c. An AI gaming device
d. A child-tracking and security belt

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.

11Why did Mira Murati make headlines this week?
a. She was promoted to chief operating officer at Microsoft
b. She resigned from OpenAI
c. She was appointed to a federal commission on trade
d. She launched a new fragrance line

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

12Dockworkers at ports along the east coast of the United States are on the verge of a strike. By most standards, though, they are not badly paid. A 2019-2020 report by the Waterfront Commission, which oversees New York Harbor, said about a third of the longshoremen there made:
a. US$81,000 or more a year
b. US$123,000 or more a year
c. US$160,000 or more a year
d. US$200,000 or more a year

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.

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