The MoneyWeek Christmas quiz 2015
Greece toyed with exiting the euro. M&A hit new highs. It’s been a busy year – how much of it passed you by? Test yourself with our quiz.
Greece toyed with exiting the euro. M&A hit new highs. It's been a busy year how much of it passed you by? Test yourself with our quiz. Compiled by Matthew Partridge, Lianne Khau and Victor Mendez-Barreira.
How much?
2. This month, basketball star LeBron James signed a record lifetime endorsement deal with Nike for a reported $500m-plus. What was his previous deal worth? a) $22m b) $93m c) $155m.
3. Whose bloomers sold for £12,000 at auction in July?
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4. Government minister Rob Wilson claimed 9p in expenses for what? a) A 352-yard car journey b) a box of paperclips c) a sachet of tomato sauce.
5. The latest Star Wars sequel looks set to become the biggest box office hit ever. Which film (also a science-fiction blockbuster) currently holds the record and how much did it make, to the nearest $0.1bn?
6. The 800 square-mile Waggoner ranch in Texas thought to be the largest in America went on sale for how much? a) $250m b) $725m c) $1.5bn.
7. In November, a single object thought to be worth more than $60m was discovered. What was it, and who found it?
8. A 1929 vintage car, expected to go for £30,000, instead sold for £695,000 in September. What was the make? a) Ferrari b) Bentley c) Rolls-Royce.
9. In the 1970s a solar panel cost around $80 a watt. How much does it cost per watt today on average? a) $0.63 b) $2.12 c) $5.63.
10. £24m-worth of what were destroyed in filming the latest James Bond film, Spectre?
11. How much did a woman win when she sued her 12-year-old nephew for making her fall and break her wrist when he leapt into her arms at a party?
12. The American government is spending $3bn on upgrading what?
People
14. Despite being called "a sex icon" by the German newspaper Die Welt, which European finance minister survived only five months before resigning in July?
15. Which boxer made $300m from just one fight this year?
16. Which former Conservative Party treasurer generated controversy with a biography of David Cameron that made pig-related allegations about the prime minister?
17. The Victoria and Albert Museum turned down the chance to buy which late politician's clothes only to change its mind?
18. Which Nobel Prize winner sold his medal for $4.8m, only for the buyer to return it?
19. After being toasted as "the future prime minister of Canada" in 1972 by Richard Nixon, who fulfilled the prediction this year?
20. Why did Australian Craig Steven Wright hit the headlines in December?
21. Which entrepreneur threatened to send Donald Trump into space?
22. Nicknamed the "atomic kitten", who was appointed head of the Institute of Directors?
23. Which film star complained that all her dates insist on paying for dinner, despite the fact that she's worth a reported $51m?
24. Who joined Pimco, the biggest bond fund manager in the world, just as the Federal Reserve was starting to raise interest rates?
Companies
26. Which fashion brand was hit by a boycott led by Elton John, after comments made by its founder?
27. AB InBev has made a £68bn bid for which rival brewer?
28. What is a unicorn?
29. Which controversial American retailer, with a history of seediness, filed for bankruptcy in October?
30. Which company has paid $250m for a new motoring show by former Top Gear trio Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May?
31. Evan Spiegel became the world's youngest billionaire this year. Of which company is he the CEO?
32. Which FTSE 100 giant issued its fifth-profit warning in under two years last month?
33. United Passions, a film released this year, grossed just £397 in its opening weekend. Which scandal-hit global organisation paid £17m to make the film?
34. What high-profile assets did publishing giant Pearson sell off this year?
35. In October, computing giant Dell sealed the biggest takeover deal ever seen in the tech sector. Which cloud computing company did it buy for $63bn?
Markets
37. And which is the best?
38. What decision by China shocked the markets in August?
39. Of the 22 commodities in the Bloomberg Commodity index, only one rose in price this year. Which one?
40. What is the largest public company (by market capitalisation) in the world?
41. Activist investors forced an embarrassing U-turn on which high-profile UK investment trust this year?
42. According to the Bank of America, which long-running economic organisation "effectively dissolved" this year?
43. In July this year, something significant happened to demonstrate the rising dominance of online retail over bricks and mortar what was it?
44. What did Third Avenue Management do to rattle markets this month?
45. In pounds sterling, which is the best-performing global stockmarket this year (albeit due largely to a plunging currency)? And which is the worst?
46. Which announced plans to open its first physical gold-trading exchange?
47. What is the worst-performing major currency this year versus the pound?
48. And which is the best?
Economics
50. If all goes according to George Osborne's plans, when will Britain make a start on paying down its national debt?
51. The Arlington a pub in Glasgow surprised its customers by doing what?
52. Swiss bank Alternative Bank Schweiz made headlines across the world when it said it would do what to its savers?
53. Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen raised the main interest rate to 0.25%. In what year did the Fed last raise rates?
54. What policy did the Chinese government formally scrap this year, amid fears about its shrinking workforce?
55. A study by Oxford academics and the accountants Deloitte suggested that 35% of UK jobs could be at risk from what over the next 20 years?
56. Which US state passed a law to repatriate its gold from the New York Federal Reserve?
57. Los Angeles voted to increase the city-wide minimum wage to what level by 2020?
58. The US Congress has agreed to lift the 40-year ban on the export of which commodity?
59. What trade deal was signed between America and 11 other countries in October?
60. Which former American Treasury secretary had a hit rap musical about him appear on Broadway?
Faces of 2015
1. "I am the president now, the president of everybody."
2. "I will build a great wall and nobody builds walls better than me."
3. "We could take Puerto Rico into the eurozone if the US were willing to take Greece into the dollar union."
4. "I feel like I've climbed out of a biplane and into a spaceship."
click here to see the answersHide answers
How much?
1) £250m2) $93m3) Queen Victoria's4) A 352-yard car journey5) Avatar; $2.8bn6) $725m7) The second-biggest diamond ever; Lucara Diamond Corp)8) Bentley9) $0.6310) Vehicles, including seven specially designed Aston Martins11) $012) Air Force One, the presidential plane
People
13) Marvin Gaye14) Yanis Varoufakis15) Floyd Mayweather16) Michael Ashcroft17) Margaret Thatcher18) James Watson (the medal was bought by Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov)19) Justin Trudeau20) He was alleged to be the anonymous creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto21) Jeff Bezos22) Lady Barbara Judge23) Emma Watson24) Gordon Brown
Companies
25) Google26) Dolce & Gabbana (in an interview the pair said "the only family is the traditional one")27) SABMiller28) An unlisted company with a valuation of more than $1bn29) American Apparel30) Amazon31) Snapchat32) Rolls-Royce33) FIFA34) The FT and Economist35) EMC
Markets
36) Anglo-American (down 76%)37) Hargreaves Lansdown (up 45%)38) It devalued the yuan39) Cotton40) Apple41) Alliance Trust42) Oil cartel Opec43) Market cap of Amazon overtook that of Walmart for the first time44) Barred withdrawals from its junk bond fund45) Venezuela (up 290%); Ukraine (down 56%)46) India47) Brazilian real (down 30%)48) US dollar (up 4.6%)
Economics
49) Cash50) 201951) Accepting digital currency "Scotcoin" as payment52) Impose negative interest rates53) 200654) The one-child policy55) Automation and robotics56) Texas57) $1558) Crude oil59) The Trans-Pacific Partnership60) Alexander Hamilton
Faces of 2015
A3: Wolfgang Schuble (Germany's finance minister offers his US counterpart a swap of debt-laden countries)B4: Jeremy Clarkson (on his move from the BBC to Amazon)C1 Sepp Blatter (on his victory as Fifa president. He was suspended later in the year)D2: Donald Trump (on his plan to keep Mexican immigrants out of the US)
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