Companies trivia

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Brand evolution, mergers, and corporate headquarters.

Companies Mini Quiz

Test your knowledge with these top questions!

Question 1

Which Japanese automaker originally manufactured automatic weaving looms?

Sakichi Toyoda sold his automatic loom patent to a British firm for £100,000 in 1929. His son, Kiichiro, used the funds to start the company's automotive division.

Question 2

Which film giant, the home of Mickey Mouse, bought Pixar and Marvel?

Disney acquired Pixar in 2006 for $7.4 billion and Marvel in 2009 for $4 billion, significantly expanding its library of iconic characters.

Question 3

Originally called "BackRub," what tech giant is named after a mathematical term for a 1 followed by 100 zeros?

Google is a misspelling of googol, a term coined by nine-year-old Milton Sirotta in 1920. BackRub was named for its use of backlinks to rank search results.

Question 4

Which Japanese automaker originally manufactured automatic weaving looms?

Sakichi Toyoda sold his automatic loom patent to a British firm for £100,000 in 1929. His son, Kiichiro, used the funds to start the company's automotive division.

Question 5

Starting with just 4 skin products, which beauty pioneer built her namesake company by giving free demonstrations in hair salons?

Lauder targeted women in hair salons because they were a captive audience while under hair dryers. She also pioneered the "gift with purchase" marketing strategy.

Question 6

With only 13 employees in 2012, which photo app was bought by Facebook for $1 billion?

At the time of the sale, Instagram had no revenue, making the billion-dollar price tag for such a small team a major industry shock.

Question 7

After being called the "Merchant of Death," which inventor used his wealth to fund a set of international awards?

Nobel established the prizes after a French newspaper mistakenly published his obituary in 1888, calling him a merchant of death for inventing dynamite.

Question 8

Which Danish brand produced wooden toys before creating plastic bricks?

Founder Ole Kirk Christiansen was a carpenter who began making wooden toys in 1932. The name Lego comes from the Danish phrase Leg Godt, meaning play well.

Question 9

Which online store bought the Whole Foods grocery chain for $14 billion in 2017?

This acquisition allowed Amazon to instantly gain over 450 physical stores and a massive data set on premium grocery shoppers.

Question 10

Using a "poison pill" strategy, what term describes a takeover done against the target's wishes?

A poison pill allows existing shareholders the right to buy more shares at a discount, diluting the value of the stock to discourage unwanted buyers.