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: Melinda Rogers-Hixon and Martha Rogers announced they are leaving the board of Rogers Communications. Their departure from the company signalled a truce in the long-running conflict between the two sisters and their brother Edward Rogers, the company’s chairman. Meanwhile, the World Economic Forum convened its annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland. And two big, big projects were unveiled in Ontario and Alberta.
Also: The parent company of Tim Hortons added something new to its offerings and Sheryl Sandberg offered a status update.
d. Iimmigration levels are overwhelming Canada’s capacity to absorb newcomers. National Bank economists say “staggering” population growth of 1¼ million people over the past year is driving up home prices and straining social systems. They suggest annual population growth should be reined back to 300,000 to 500,000 people.
b. Nuclear power reactor. Capital Power Corp., which already generates power from natural gas, wind and solar, will team up with Ontario Power Generation to assess the potential for building small modular reactors in Alberta.
a. Ms. Oxman plagiarized parts of her PhD dissertation. Axel Springer, the German media company that owns Business Insider, said this week that it stood behind the reporting in the story. Its probe of Ms. Oxman’s alleged plagiarism came on the heels of Mr. Ackman’s campaign to unseat Claudine Gay, president of Harvard, for what he considered Ms. Gay’s weak response to antisemitism on campus. Mr. Ackman accused Ms. Gay of plagiarism, among other things, and she eventually resigned.
b. The largest Burger King franchisee in the U.S. RBI said it had agreed to acquire Carrols Restaurant Group Inc., a publicly traded company that operates more than 1,000 Burger King locations in the United States. Some large Burger King franchisees have been struggling and three major U.S. operators filed for bankruptcy protection in the last year.
c. Germany was the weakest performer. Its economy shrank 0.3 per cent in 2023, according to figures published this week. In contrast, Canada’s economy grew 1.3 per cent while Japanese output expanded 2 per cent and U.S. production increased 2.1 per cent, according to recent estimates from the International Monetary Fund.
b. Ben & Jerry’s. has previously clashed with its owner Unilever over the ice cream maker’s desire to stop sales of its product in the West Bank.
a. Will step down from her position on the company’s board. Ms. Sandberg was once second-in-command at Meta and is credited with developing its controversial ads-based business model. She has spent 12 years on the board.
c. Underestimated the impact of inflation. Birkenstock shares slumped this week after management issued downbeat guidance for the year ahead. The company said it planned to raise prices on its footwear, which retails for as much as $350 a pair.
d. A drought. The drought is in its third year and is an example of the extreme weather conditions that are plaguing power producers across the country. Meanwhile, a shift to electric vehicles and heat pumps is driving up demand for electricity.
d. Argentine President Javier Milei. Mr. Milei, a self-described anarcho-capitalist, accused Western leaders of “abandoning the values of the West” and hailed business executives as “heroes.”
a. 2.08 million people. It was the second year in a row that China’s population has shrunk. The demographic downturn is another challenge for a country grappling with falling home prices and high unemployment among young people.
c. Sugar. Sucro Ltd. is spending more than $135-million on the refinery, which will go head-to-head with Canada’s two long-established producers, Lantic Sugar Inc. and Redpath Sugar.
Ian McGugan