The bumper business Christmas quiz 2018

Put on your Christmas jumper, pour yourself a wee sherry, and settle down with the bumper business Christmas quiz 2018. Photograph: Alamy Stock Photo

1. Who said the Guardian was 'the most insufferable newspaper on Planet Earth'?

   1. Donald Trump

   2. Philip Green

   3. Elon Musk

2. 

   What is the name of Tesco's new 'budget' supermarket, which opened in Cambridgeshire in September?

   1. Shirley's

   2. Dave's

   3. Jack's

3. Who resigned as chair of the Institute of Directors in March amid racism claims?

   1. Lady (Barbara) Judge

   2. Lord (Digby) Jones

   3. Lord (Alan) Sugar

4. Lisa Osofsky was appointed to a key role in 2018. What was it?

   1. An external member of the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee

   2. The head of the Serious Fraud Office

   3. The chief executive of TSB

5. Who was forced to apologise after describing the economy as 'menopausal'?

   1. John McDonnell, shadow chancellor

   2. Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of England

   3. Ben Broadbent, deputy governor of the Bank of England

6. 

   One bitcoin is currently priced at just below $4,000, but what was its peak price in 2018?

   1. $7,000

   2. $17,000

   3. $27,000

7. In June, which company became the last of the original constituents of the Dow Jones Industrial Average to leave the famous index after 110 years?

   1. General Electric

   2. DowDuPont

   3. AT&T

8. Sir Martin Sorrell has said his new marketing services venture, S4 Capital, is like what compared to global giant WPP?

   1. A pea

   2. A watermelon

   3. A coconut

9. US giant Comcast was forced to bid how much for Sky to see off Rupert Murdoch and Disney?

   1. £28bn

   2. £30bn

   3. £32bn

10. Mike Coupe, the chief executive of Sainsbury’s, was secretly filmed singing what song on the same day the supermarket announced a blockbuster marriage with Asda?

    1. Money, Money, Money

    2. We're in the Money

    3. If I Were a Rich Man

11. Who has complained of the cold and a rice-heavy diet while in Japanese detention?

    1. Former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn

    2. Former Volkswagen executive Oliver Schmidt

    3. Huawei’s finance chief Meng Wanzhou

12. What will Burberry stop doing after being criticised by environmental campaigners?

    1. Stop giving its unsold products to private investors

    2. End its practice of putting unsold products in landfill

    3. End its practice of burning unsold clothes, bags and perfume

13. 

    Which big ride-hailing firm is taking on Uber in the UK?

    1. Lyft

    2. Didi Chuxing

    3. Ola

14. Which of these Christmas ad campaign stories proved the most popular with readers?

    1. John Lewis’s Elton John-fronted ad

    2. Twitter’s ad featuring the real John Lewis

    3. Iceland’s re-badging of a Greenpeace anti-palm oil campaign

15. In March, a regulator banned Paul Flowers from the City. What for?

    1. Illegal drug use

    2. Presiding over the near-collapse of the Co-op Bank

    3. Misuse of his Co-op email account and mobile phone

16. The boss of which building company was fired in November after awkwardly dodging questions on his £75m bonus?

    1. Taylor Wimpey

    2. Persimmon

    3. Balfour Beatty

17. Which auditor received a rebuke from the regulator for 'unacceptable' work on Carillion, the construction firm which collapsed in January?

    1. KPMG

    2. Grant Thornton

    3. Deloitte

18. 

    After a timetabling meltdown caused the cancellation of thousands of trains and months of disruption, who claimed: 'I don’t run the railways'?

    1. The then Network Rail chief executive Mark Carne

    2. Transport secretary Chris Grayling

    3. Rail Delivery Group chief executive Paul Plummer

19. What kind of expenses did the Stobart Group try to reclaim in a £5m suit against a fired ex-boss, before admitting in court that the current chief executive was claiming too?

    1. An in-house massage therapist

    2. Kenneling for pets during work trips abroad

    3. Helicopter flights to see friends and family

20. The new chief executive of Goldman Sachs, David Solomon, is best known for which hobby?

    1. Rapping

    2. DJing

    3. Street art

21. How many bank branches have closed across the UK over the past 30 years, according to numbers compiled by consumer charity Which?

    1. 6,520

    2. 12,997

    3. 21,653

22. What is the M26 motorway planned to become after Brexit?

    1. A hi-tech corridor for the autonomous driving industry

    2. An eight-lane superhighway to speed international air cargo from Manston to the M25

    3. A lorry park to deal with queues to the Channel

23. What did Elon Musk offer for sale for $500 and promise were 'guaranteed to liven up any party'?

    1. Personal submarines

    2. Flame throwers

    3. Crates of Tesla brand vodka

24. Who is the UK’s richest person, with a £21bn fortune?

    1. Sir Philip Green

    2. Sir Jim Ratcliffe

    3. Sir Len Blavatnik

25. How much was one chicken worth in Venezuela when hyperinflation began to accelerate in August?

    1. 1.9m bolivars

    2. 9.5m bolivars

    3. 14.6m bolivars

26. According to PwC and Demos’ 2018 Good Growth for Cities index, which is the most improved city in Britain to live and work?

    1. Preston

    2. Liverpool

    3. Ipswich

27. How many energy suppliers have gone bust in 2018?

    1. One

    2. Eight

    3. 14

28. 

    How much money did Zamira Hajiyeva, the wife of an Azerbaijani banker jailed for defrauding his state-owned bank, spend in Harrods between 2006-16?

    1. £163,000

    2. £1.63m

    3. £16.3m

29. The share of UK electricity generated by renewables this year has hit a record high of?

    1. 20%

    2. 25%

    3. 30%

30. In a memorable appearance before MPs investigating the future of the high street, how did Mike Ashley describe the high street’s health?

    1. 'It’s got some worrying symptoms but a dose of antibiotics could cure its ills.'

    2. 'It’s in A&E and the worried doctor is holding a pair of defibrillator paddles.'

    3. 'The patient has died.'

31. 

    Sainsbury's supermarket introduced which dried savoury snack - in what it claimed to be a UK first - in November?

    1. Deep-fried scorpions

    2. Crunchy frogs' legs

    3. Roasted crickets

32. According to Oxfam, how many people own the same wealth as half the world’s population?

    1. 420

    2. 42

    3. 4

33. Who was prime minister the last time unemployment in the UK was as low as it is now?

    1. Ted Heath

    2. Harold Wilson

    3. Jim Callaghan

34. The maximum stake on fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs) will be reduced to £2, but what is it at the moment?

    1. £50

    2. £100

    3. £1,000

35. Which two of the big six energy suppliers were cleared by authorities to create a new energy giant?

    1. Npower and SSE

    2. British Gas and E.ON

    3. Scottish Power and EDF

36. 

    Which supermarket chain withdrew a range of chocolate bars after it was accused by Hotel Chocolat of plagiarising their design?

    1. Marks & Spencer

    2. Waitrose

    3. Tesco

37. Which telecoms company’s name reportedly derives from a patriotic phrase meaning 'China makes a difference'?

    1. Alibaba

    2. Huawei

    3. Baidu

38. How many billionaires are there in the world, according to Swiss bank UBS’s billionaires report?

    1. 705

    2. 2,158

    3. 11,105

39. Apple became the first company to be valued at $1tn this year but its shares have since fallen sharply. What has worried investors?

    1. New laws on the misuse of personal data

    2. That the company will no longer reveal how many iPhones it sells

    3. Rumours that chief design officer Jony Ive intends to leave

40. Directors of Carillion were accused of 'recklessness, hubris and greed' after the outsourcing firm’s collapse. But how much is its failure estimated to have cost taxpayers?

    1. £150m

    2. £10m

    3. £1.5bn

41. How do you pronounce Huawei?

    1. Who are way

    2. Wa way

    3. Who are we

42. Which city in Europe had the highest house price rise in the 12 months to October 2018, according to Knight Frank?

    1. Edinburgh

    2. Berlin

    3. Monaco

43. 

    The Civil Aviation Authority recently said Ryanair must compensate passengers caught up in strike action. How many flights did it cancel on the worst day, 28 September?

    1. 250

    2. 350

    3. 400

44. In November, the Office for Budget Responsibility forecast that the budget deficit would be significantly lower this year than previously thought – by how much?

    1. £8bn

    2. £10bn

    3. £12bn

45. There are about 53,000 free-to-use cash machines in the UK. But how many are closing every month?

    1. 100

    2. 150

    3. 250

46. In April, the national minimum wage was increased. How much is it now for workers aged 25 and over?

    1. £6.83

    2. £7.83

    3. £8.83

47. In September, Apple unveiled its latest smartphone, the iPhone XS Max. How much does its top model cost?

    1. £799

    2. £1,149

    3. £1,449

48. 

    Which ancient alcoholic drink is - according to the conservation charity English Heritage - making a comeback thanks to craft beers?

    1. Mead

    2. Gin

    3. Ale

49. A new 50p coin to 'commemorate' Brexit is to be issued by the Royal Mint in the spring. Along with the date '29 March 2019' – the day Britain leaves the EU – it will also carry which message?

    1. 'Peace, prosperity and friendship with all nations'

    2. 'One great union of people and nations with a proud history and a bright future'

    3. 'Oh shit, what happens now?'

50. Which former prime minister was included on the Bank of England’s list of candidates who might be pictured on the new £50 note?

    1. David Lloyd George

    2. Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman

    3. Margaret Thatcher

Solutions

1:C, 2:C, 3:A, 4:B, 5:C, 6:B, 7:A, 8:C, 9:B, 10:B, 11:A, 12:C, 13:C, 14:C, 15:C, 16:B, 17:A, 18:B, 19:C, 20:B, 21:B, 22:C, 23:B, 24:B, 25:C, 26:A, 27:B, 28:C, 29:C, 30:C, 31:C, 32:B, 33:B, 34:B, 35:A, 36:B, 37:B, 38:B, 39:B, 40:A, 41:B, 42:A, 43:A, 44:C, 45:C, 46:B, 47:C, 48:A, 49:A, 50:C

Scores

1. 36 and above.

   Zut alors, as they say in parts of the Belgian capital. You certainly know your business onions and how to peel them. Jump on the Eurostar and have a word with Brussels, will you?

2. 49 and above.

   Wow! You are a business sage, a guru! Can we have your stock market tips for 2019 please?

3. 20 and above.

   Not bad! Distinctly mid-table performance with ample room for improvement, but not a disaster. Unlike the Brexit talks

4. 0 and above.

   You should be ashamed. Still, on the upside, you are at least business-savvy enough to thrash out post-Brexit trade deals. (Think of the air miles)

5. 10 and above.

   A fair to middling attempt. Nothing to boast about in the boardroom but by no means a car crash, cliff-edge, no-deal Brexit. Dust yourself down and try again next Chrimbo