The Seattle Times: 2006 Biz Quiz

Patricia Dunn, the ousted chairwoman of Hewlett-Packard, was one of the most powerful women in corporate America. Then came the HP boardroom spying scandal that popularized the use of this term:
Instant messaging
Text messaging
Pretexting

Match that quote

"China rocks!"
"Geez, get a decent computer where you can actually read the text and you're not sitting there cranking the thing while you're trying to type."

A. Paula Rosput Reynolds, Safeco

B. Bill Gates, Microsoft

C. Alan Mulally, Boeing

Rising gas prices was a big story for the second year in a row. At its peak, how much would it cost to fill up a Chevy Suburban with regular gasoline in Seattle?
$45.61
$98.58
$120.77

What do the CEO of Safeco, who took the helm Jan. 1 after Mike McGavick stepped down to run for U.S. Senate, and the CEO of Puget Energy have in common?
They're siblings.
They sit on each other's boards.
They're married to each other.

Which of the following did Bill Ford not say about Alan Mulally, the former Boeing Commercial Airplanes head who became CEO of Ford Motor in September?
"A lot of the things we're facing, he's not only faced, but accomplished."
"First thing we'll do is get him to trade in that Lexus for a nice Lincoln MKZ."
"Look at him. Doesn't he look great for 61? This place will change all that."

Shares of Google hit a closing high of $509.65 in November, not long after the company closed on its $1.65 billion purchase of:
Yahoo!
YouTube
MySpace

The local housing market, like that of the nation as a whole, slowed in 2006, with home sales in King County down 12.6 percent through November compared with the first 11 months of 2005. But median home prices were up 13.6 percent to:
$397,500
$347,500
$427,500

After 17 straight quarter-point increases in its target interest rate dating back to mid-2004, the Federal Reserve finally paused in August after raising the nation's benchmark rate from 1 percent to 5.25 percent. What did the Dow Jones industrial average do in response to the news?
Rose 179 points.
Rose 57 points.
Dropped 46 points.

Former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling, convicted in connection with the energy giant's historic collapse in 2001, was ordered to:
Perform 1,000 hours of community service in Houston.
Pay back the money investors lost when Enron stock crashed.
Serve a 24-year, four-month term in a federal prison in Minnesota.

Airbus' troubled A380 was supposed to debut this year, but a series of technical difficulties has delayed its first commercial flight to late 2007. The double-decked superjumbo jet has been unflatteringly compared to:
A blue whale
A pink elephant
An oil tanker

Which of the following was not a product launched by Microsoft in 2006?
Urge, an online music store developed with MTV.
adCenter, an online advertising service.
Vista, the latest version of the Windows operating system.
Halcyon, a suite of Internet-security tools for personal computers.

Match the Microsoft-related quote with its speaker:

"This is very underground. This is Seattle grunge. This is our Kurt Cobain."
"Many people ask me if we are your friends or your foes. We come as a friend."
"I suspect the debate over whether this is Microsoft cozying up to people in order to more easily slit their throats in the night will go on for some time."

A. Linux creator Linus Torvalds, discussing a deal on software compatibility between Microsoft and Novell.

B. CEO Steve Ballmer, attempting to reassure the mobile-phone industry at a conference in Spain.

C. Steve Kaneko, design director of Microsoft's Zune, describing the new music player.

In January 2006, Washington state's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate stood at 4.6 percent. After nearly a year of solid job gains, the jobless rate in November was:
4.2 percent
4.4 percent
4.6 percent
5.0 percent

Costco Wholesale was the subject of a landmark ruling in April overturning the state's regulatory scheme for selling which of these products? (Costco Wholesale is also the nation's largest retailer of this product).
Fish
Wine
Cigarettes
M&M's

2006 was a year for Microsoft to mend fences, build bridges and generally use its cash hoard to, in the words of Michael Corleone: "Settle all family business." Match the dollar amount with its circumstances.

$400 million
$357 million
$160.7 million
$70 million

A. Amount Microsoft will pay Novell over five years as part of their collaboration agreement on Linux.

B. Amount Microsoft agreed to pay five Californian cities and counties to settle claims it overcharged for Windows software.

C. Amount the European Union fined Microsoft in July for not complying with its 2004 antitrust order.

D. Amount Microsoft paid to RealNetworks over the first three quarters of this year as part of their antitrust settlement

Wii?
"Whee!" � Nintendo's new video-game console.
"Why-I" � Verizon Wireless' new standard for wireless Web surfing.
"Wee-ee" � China's new consul general in Seattle.
"We" � Short for "Washington is intense," the state's new tourism slogan, replacing "Say WA."

One of the following retailers is different from the others. Which one?
Larry's Markets
Eddie Bauer
Tower Records
Mervyn's

2006 was one of the biggest years on record for mergers and acquisitions. Match the local tech company to its new owner:

Advanced Digital Information Corp., Redmond
Onyx Software, Bellevue
WatchGuard Technologies, Seattle
Loudeye, Seattle

A. M2M Holdings (Wellesley, Mass.)

B. Nokia (Espoo, Finland)

C. Quantum (San Jose, Calif.)

D. Francisco Partners (Menlo Park, Calif.) and Vector Capital (San Francisco)

Icos, the Bothell-based biotech company best known for developing the love potion Cialis, is in the midst of a takeover by this company that could lead to most of its 550 jobs being eliminated:
Merck
Amgen
Eli Lilly
Genentech

This past year marked the 20th anniversary of the Italian-style coffee-bar chain Howard Schultz began in 1986, and was the precursor to the Starbucks business of today. What was its name?
Il Giornale
Il Fornaio
Vito's
Caffe de Howard