The Hindu Business Line : Investment Quiz

1. $100 billion in revenues in a quarter is a milestone that was achieved for the first time ever in July-September 2005. Name the company, which swept past the mark and fell only a tad short of $10 billion in earnings?

2. Maruti now has a market cap of about Rs 16,200 crore. How much did Suzuki pay in 1983 to pick up a 26-per cent stake?

3. Which is the stock exchange whose shares were the first to be listed and traded?

4. Racal was awarded the first mobile licence in the UK in 1982 and the first call was put through in January 1985 under a different name. The company we are referring to is...

5. The record for being the fastest to the $100-billion level in market capitalisation changed hands in October. Which company enjoys this distinction now?

6. With what would you associate the mascot Tux?

7. Financial Technologies has been one of the sizzlers in the bull market over the past year. In which exchange's equity does the company hold a significant stake?

8. Mr Ben Bernanke is set to succeed Mr Alan Greenspan as the Chairman of the US Federal Reserve. Who did the latter succeed as Chairman? (Hint: Much in the news recently)

9. Which Indian business group recently raised its stake in Idea Cellular to over 50 per cent?

10. Mr Akhil Gupta, Mr Anil Singhvi and Mr Mohandas Pai are among the most acclaimed CFOs (Chief Financial Officer) in Corporate India today. Which companies are they associated with?

11. Name the most actively traded equity security in the world.

12. Several Indian drug companies have taken a pounding as margins have collapsed in the market for generic drugs (affordable versions of brand-name drugs), especially in the US. Which is the biggest company in the generic drugs market?

13. What is common to Bombay Burmah, Asian Cables, Crompton Greaves and Scindia Steamship?

14. Who is the person in the accompanying photograph? He has always maintained a low profile. But the avian flu scare has pitch forked him and his company to the limelight due to the promise of a low-cost version of Tamiflu, which is a drug patented by Roche of Switzerland.

15. Renowned investor Mr Rakesh Jhunjhunwala last week became the Chairman of the one of the several companies in which he has a strategic stake. Name the company.

Answers

1. Exxon Mobil.

2. Rs 1.73 crore

3. Stockholm Stock Exchange owned by the OMX group.

4. Vodafone.

5.Google; it took just 14 months, beating the three-year mark set by Yahoo!

6. It's the penguin of Linux

7. Multi Commodity Exchange of India

8. Mr Paul Volcker

9. The Aditya Birla group.

10. Bharti Tele-Ventures, Gujarat Ambuja Cements and Infosys.

11. QQQ - an exchange traded fund that trades under the ticker name `QQQQ' on the Nasdaq.