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 in business and investing: After days of conflicting stories, the power struggle at OpenAI, the revolutionary artificial intelligence company behind ChatGPT, may be coming to an end. On Tuesday, the formerly ousted Sam Altman was reinstated as chief executive officer, along with a new board. The saga – which saw Mr. Altman’s original departure from OpenAI, a tense board battle, a series of hirings and firings and an open letter signed by hundreds of OpenAI employees threatening to quit – sent shock waves across the tech industry.
Meanwhile: Between starship launches, big moves at X, and more, Elon Musk has had an eventful week. What didn’t he do?
Do you remember these stories? Take our quiz below to test your recall for the week ending Nov 24.
1Watch your luggage! Air Canada says it’s not responsible for the daring theft of $23.7-million in gold and cash from its facilities at Toronto’s Pearson airport earlier this year. The thief made off with the loot after:
a. Showing fake paperwork
b. Pulling a shotgun on warehouse workers
c. Switching packing cases
d. Creating a diversion with a bomb threat
a. Showing fake paperwork. Brink’s, which paid Air Canada to ship the cargo on behalf of clients, is suing the airline for the value of the stolen property plus damages.
2Argentina’s new president-elect, Javier Milei, has described himself as an anarcho-capitalist. He is certainly a fan of bold gestures. The wild-haired politician has:
a. Promised (with a chainsaw as a prop) to slash government spending
b. Pledged to burn down the central bank
c. Vowed to replace the Argentine peso with the U.S. dollar
d. All the above
d. All of the above. He is also in favour of legalizing the sale of human organs.
3Reuters reports that OpenAI researchers sent a letter to the company’s board of directors in the days before chief executive Sam Altman was briefly ousted as head of the artificial intelligence organization. The letter reportedly:
a. Warned of a looming financial shortfall
b. Said key staff were on the verge of leaving
c. Warned of a powerful AI discovery that the researchers said could threaten humanity
d. Promoted the idea of merging with Microsoft
c. Warned of a powerful AI discovery that the researchers said could threaten humanity. The staff who wrote the letter did not respond to requests for comment and Reuters was unable to review a copy of the letter.
4Investing is hard, part 1: Electric vehicles are surging in popularity. How have prices for lithium, the key electric-battery metal, fared so far this year?
a. They have fallen about 75 per cent
b. They have flat-lined
c. They have gained about 40 per cent
d. They have gained about 75 per cent
5Investing is hard, part 2: First Quantum Minerals of Vancouver lost half its stock-market value over the past month after a wave of protests over its giant copper mine in:
a. Canada
b. Chile
c. Panama
d. Slovakia
c. Panama. The country’s Supreme Court will decide on the constitutionality of the recently-negotiated contract between First Quantum and Panama’s government.
6Investing is hard, part 3: Hedge funds have lost an estimated US$43-billion over recent days, according to the Financial Times. Their big mistake?
a. Betting on a continued rise in oil prices
b. Lending money to Chinese property companies
c. Loading up on AI stocks
d. Betting on stocks to fall
d. Betting on stocks to fall. Short sellers have been hit by a “painful” rebound in “low quality” stocks, according to one investor.
7The Bank of Mom and Dad can give young people a big advantage when it comes to buying their first home. According to Statistics Canada, how much more likely are millennials to own a home if their parents are homeowners?
a. 1.5 times as likely
b. Nearly twice as likely
c. Three times as likely
d. Four times as likely
b. Nearly twice as likely. However, if a young person’s parents own multiple properties, he or she is three times more likely to own a home than people whose parents aren’t homeowners.
8Chinese-Canadian businessman Changpeng Zhao stepped down as chief of crypto exchange Binance this week after pleading guilty to money laundering. He has agreed to pay a US$50-million fine to U.S. authorities. This will leave him with an estimated net worth of:
a. Nothing
b. US$120-million
c. US$1.3-billion
d. More than US$10-billion
d. More than US$10-billion. Forbes magazine estimates he is one of the 500 wealthiest people in the world.
9Elon Musk has had a busy week. Which of the following did not happen to the tech billionaire during the past few days?
a. His SpaceX Starship exploded above the Gulf of Mexico
b. He was hit by the decision of major advertisers such as Apple and Disney to suspend their ad campaigns on X (formerly Twitter)
c. He denounced as “insane” a wave of Swedish strikes that have left Teslas in that country without licence plates
d. He announced he was backing a Broadway musical about his life
d. He announced he was backing a Broadway musical about his life. Mr. Musk isn’t backing a Broadway musical. (At least, not yet.) Some things are just too risky.
10Canada’s inflation rate fell to 3.1 per cent in October. How does that compare with inflation a year earlier?
a. It is about the same
b. It is less than half
c. It is about once percentage point lower
d. It is slightly higher
b. It is less than half. A year ago, inflation was running at a 6.9-per-cent annual rate.
11Canada’s consolidated general government deficit – which includes federal, provincial, territorial and local governments – hit a painful $63.7-billion as the pandemic raged in 2021. How big was the consolidated deficit a year later?
a. $75.2-billion
b. $42.3-billion
c. $17.8-billion
d. $6.9-billion
d. $6.9-billion. The consolidated deficit fell by $56.8-billion in 2022 as the pandemic eased and government revenues soared.
12The news can be distressing these days but Ottawa is prepared to help. In its fall economic statement, the federal government vowed to scrap GST and HST on the cost of:
a. Yoga and exercise classes
b. Cannabis products
c. Psychotherapy and counselling
d. Sports equipment
c. Psychotherapy and counselling. The government says therapy plays an important role in the lives of many Canadians, but that it can be expensive.
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Ian McGugan