Quiz Category: Latest Business Trivia | 10 Rich Questions

ViacomCBS Inc announced it’s changing its name to Paramount. The media conglomerate that owns CBS, Showtime, MTV, Comedy Central, BET, Nickelodeon, Smithsonian, Paramount Pictures, Paramount+, Pluto TV, and more announced the change during a presentation of its streaming strategy on Feb. 15, 2022.

Microsoft announced on Jan. 18, 2022, it is buying “Call of Duty” and “Candy Crush” maker Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion –  the biggest gaming industry deal in history. The purchase pushes Microsoft past Nintendo as the third-largest video game company by global revenue, behind Sony and Chinese tech giant Tencent.

Stolichnaya (Stoli) vodka has long been marketed as Russian vodka, but its production facilities have been in Latvia since 2000, when its founder, Russian-born billionaire Yuri Shefler, was exiled because of his opposition to Putin. On March 4, 2022, the maker of Stolichnaya vodka announced a major rebrand – it will no longer be marketed as Russian and will be renamed Stoli. Stoli Group is a unit of Luxembourg-based SPI Group.

A group of 102 millionaires and billionaires, who brand themselves as “patriotic millionaires,” signed a letter on Jan. 19, 2022, calling for “permanent wealth taxes on the richest to help reduce extreme inequality and raise revenue for sustained, long-term increases in public services like healthcare.”

Who are the patriotic millionaires?

The group includes Disney heiress Abigail Disney, Nick Hanauer, a venture capitalist who made an almost $1bn fortune from an early bet on Amazon, and Gemma McGough, a British entrepreneur.

Apple became the first US company to be valued at over $3 trillion on Jan. 3, 2022. The company became the world’s first trillion-dollar company in August 2018 and passed $2 trillion in 2020. Apple alone is more valuable than Boeing, Coca-Cola, Disney, Exxon-Mobil, McDonald’s, Netflix, and Walmart combined.

Is Apple still the most valuable company in the world?

By May 2022, Apple shares have fallen nearly 20%. On May 11, Oil giant Saudi Aramco surpassed Apple as the world’s most valuable firm with a market valuation of just under $2.43 trillion. Apple is, as of May 2022, worth $2.37 trillion.

Image: Time Magazine

Time magazine has named Tesla CEO Elon Musk as its Person of the Year for 2021. Musk, the founder and CEO of the space exploration company SpaceX, recently passed Amazon founder Jeff Bezos as the world’s wealthiest person.

The largest oil and gas companies, including Exxon, Chevron, Shell, and BP,  made a combined $174bn in profits in the first nine months of 2021, as gasoline prices climbed in the US, according to a new report provided exclusively to the Guardian. US Gasoline prices have hit a seven-year high due to the rising cost of oil, with Americans now paying about $3.40 per gallon for fuel compared with around $2.10 a year ago.

In 2020, Russia’s state-owned ALROSA Group produced approximately 30 million carats of diamonds, making it the world’s largest diamond producer.

Is Alrosa still on the Responsible Jewellery Council?

Alrosa stepped down voluntarily from the Responsible Jewellery Council’s board, which sets ethical standards for the jewelry and watch industry, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the sanctions laid by western countries. The RJC, on its part – as of March 30, 2022 – is still assessing Alrosa’s membership status. Jewelry makers Richemont group (which owns Cartier and other labels), Kering, and PANDORA announced they were cutting ties with the RJC as the industry body failed to cut relations with Russia.

French-based multinational luxury goods corporation Kering owns fashion labels Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, Alexander McQueen, and Bottega Veneta. In 2004, Kering reached 99.4% ownership of Gucci.

Were Gucci family members involved in the making of the “House of Gucci” movie?

The Gucci family members were not involved in the making of the “House of Gucci” movie. However, the Gucci label provided the filmmakers with a “selection of original items and props” from its archives. It also sanctioned the filming of a scene at Gucci’s flagship store in Rome.

On Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2021, General Electric announced that it would divide itself into three public companies focused on aviation, health care, and energy. In 2020 GE stopped making the light bulbs that the company had been making since founded in the late 19th century. GE appliances has been majority-owned by Chinese multinational home appliances company Haier since 2016.