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Quiz about You Scratch My Back
Quiz about You Scratch My Back

You Scratch My Back... Trivia Quiz


Are two heads really better than one? In the business world, sometimes corporate mergers are successful, and sometimes they aren't. Here are a few big scale failures you may remember.

A multiple-choice quiz by reedy. Estimated time: 5 mins.
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Author
reedy
Time
5 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
342,432
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Average
Avg Score
6 / 10
Plays
452
Last 3 plays: JanIQ (8/10), Guest 107 (6/10), Johnmcmanners (10/10).
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Question 1 of 10
1. In 1968, two rail companies - the New York Central and Pennsylvania railroad - merged to form Penn Central, then the 6th-largest corporation in the US. The formerly bitter rivals had recognized the trends of the market moving away from rail travel and more towards air and car travel. It was still not enough. How long was it before the new company filed for bankruptcy? Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. Daimler Benz merged with Chrysler in 1998 for $37 billion dollars, creating the company Daimler Chrysler. Nine years later, Daimler Benz cut its losses, selling Chrysler to the Cerberus Capital Management Firm for how much? Hint


Question 3 of 10
3. This toy company was founded in 1945 and became one of the biggest toy-makers in existence. In 1999 it tried to break into the education field by buying the nearly bankrupt 'The Learning Company,' but things didn't work out. A year later, losing $1.5 million per day, 'The Learning Company' was sold and 10% of the toy company's employees were laid off to cut costs. Which toy company? Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. In the year 2005, Sears and K-Mart were purchased by an American businessman and merged to form the Sears Holdings Corporation. Stiff competition from big-box stores like Walmart and Target put the new company into a steady and steep financial decline, and in 2007 the aforementioned businessman was named 'America's Worst CEO' by MarketWatch. Who? Hint


Question 5 of 10
5. America Online (AOL) and Time Warner combined forces in 2001, joining together print and electronic media in what was considered a revolutionary move. In what year did Time Warner finally split with AOL, dropping the internet company at roughly 10% of its former value? Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. The Quaker Oats Company bought into an emerging drinks market at a price tag of $1.7 billion. Twenty-seven months later, Quaker offloaded the drink company for a paltry (in comparison) $300 million - a loss of roughly $1.6 million per day. Which company? Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. In 2005, two communications companies merged and proceded to self-destruct. The companies in question were AT&T and Nextel Communications.


Question 8 of 10
8. Computer software company Novell acquired WordPerfect Corporation back in 1994, but it only took two years for Novell to offload the company to someone else. Stiff competition from rival word processors and incompatibility issues had helped Novell's decision. Who bought WordPerfect from them? Hint


Question 9 of 10
9. Internet company Excite joined forces with @Home_Network for $6.7 billion in 1999, creating Excite@Home. Two years later, the resignation of the second CEO since the merger was announced as the stock had dropped by what percentage over two years? Hint


Question 10 of 10
10. Sometimes mergers fail before they can even get started, due to no fault of the merging companies. In 2001, General Electric (GE) and Honeywell International Inc. were set to merge and become the largest industrial merger in history (to that date) at an estimated value of $40 billion. All it needed was approval from both the European Commission (EC) and the United States Department of Justice. Which governing body nixed the deal, the EC or the US Dept. of Justice?

Answer: (EC or US)

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Most Recent Scores
Oct 20 2024 : JanIQ: 8/10
Oct 05 2024 : Guest 107: 6/10
Oct 03 2024 : Johnmcmanners: 10/10
Sep 17 2024 : Guest 69: 1/10
Sep 07 2024 : zorba_scank: 10/10
Sep 06 2024 : bernie73: 3/10

Score Distribution

quiz
Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. In 1968, two rail companies - the New York Central and Pennsylvania railroad - merged to form Penn Central, then the 6th-largest corporation in the US. The formerly bitter rivals had recognized the trends of the market moving away from rail travel and more towards air and car travel. It was still not enough. How long was it before the new company filed for bankruptcy?

Answer: Two years

The bankruptcy of Penn Central began a cascade of rail company failures, and by 1976 the Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act folded Penn Central and five other failed rail companies in the Northeast into the Consolidated Rail Company, or Conrail.
2. Daimler Benz merged with Chrysler in 1998 for $37 billion dollars, creating the company Daimler Chrysler. Nine years later, Daimler Benz cut its losses, selling Chrysler to the Cerberus Capital Management Firm for how much?

Answer: $7 billion

The plan by Cerberus (and the roughly 100 other investors that contributed to the buyout) to try to revitalize the company coincided with a serious economic slowdown in the auto industry in 2008, and by the time March 30th of 2009 rolled around, Cerberus was no longer the controlling interest of the company. On April 30th of that same year, Chrysler filed for bankruptcy protection.
3. This toy company was founded in 1945 and became one of the biggest toy-makers in existence. In 1999 it tried to break into the education field by buying the nearly bankrupt 'The Learning Company,' but things didn't work out. A year later, losing $1.5 million per day, 'The Learning Company' was sold and 10% of the toy company's employees were laid off to cut costs. Which toy company?

Answer: Mattel

The Mattel name came from combining the names of its creators Harold "Matt" Matson and "El"liot Handler. Known as the creator of the Barbie line of dolls and accessories, Mattel became the number one toymaker in America in the mid-1960s. By the year 2002, Mattel closed its last factory in the United States, completely outsourcing its manufacturing to China.

The fiasco with 'The Learning Company' dropped Mattel's stock worth from a high in 1998 of $45 a share to a low in 2000 of $11.
4. In the year 2005, Sears and K-Mart were purchased by an American businessman and merged to form the Sears Holdings Corporation. Stiff competition from big-box stores like Walmart and Target put the new company into a steady and steep financial decline, and in 2007 the aforementioned businessman was named 'America's Worst CEO' by MarketWatch. Who?

Answer: Eddie Lampert

In 2007, Samuel Palmisano was the CEO of IBM, Ken Chenault headed American Express, and Mark Hurd helmed Hewlett-Packard.

Prior to his acquisitions of Sears and K-Mart, Eddie Lampert had made a name for himself as the founder, chairman and CEO of ESL Investments, and prior to that in 2004, he had managed to become the first Wall Street financial manager to break $1 billion in earnings.

Incidentally, Lampert managed to earn the distinction from MarketWatch despite the fact that he is the chairman and not actually the CEO of the Sears Holdings Corporation.
5. America Online (AOL) and Time Warner combined forces in 2001, joining together print and electronic media in what was considered a revolutionary move. In what year did Time Warner finally split with AOL, dropping the internet company at roughly 10% of its former value?

Answer: 2009

On May 29th, 2009, it was announced that the two companies would split by the end of the year, a transaction that was completed on December 9th. At its height in 2002, AOL (as part of AOL Time Warner) had over 26 million dial-up customers. At the time of the split, AOL still had 5.4 million customers using dial-up.
6. The Quaker Oats Company bought into an emerging drinks market at a price tag of $1.7 billion. Twenty-seven months later, Quaker offloaded the drink company for a paltry (in comparison) $300 million - a loss of roughly $1.6 million per day. Which company?

Answer: Snapple

Snapple had made a name for itself selling to small-market companies, but the brand was unable to stand up to competition on a national level (Coca-Cola and Pepsi brands) and they came up against a market experiencing slow growth. It was also suggested at the time of the acquisition that Quaker had paid about $1 billion too much for Snapple in the first place.
7. In 2005, two communications companies merged and proceded to self-destruct. The companies in question were AT&T and Nextel Communications.

Answer: False

It was actually Sprint and Nextel. The thought was that combining the cellular and home phone service companies would provide strength across the communications market spectrum, but that's not how things turned out. Soon after the merger, Nextel managers and executives left the company, insisting that the two cultures could not work together.
8. Computer software company Novell acquired WordPerfect Corporation back in 1994, but it only took two years for Novell to offload the company to someone else. Stiff competition from rival word processors and incompatibility issues had helped Novell's decision. Who bought WordPerfect from them?

Answer: Corel

Since their acquisition of WordPerfect, the software officially became known as Corel WordPerfect. Corel (an abbreviation of Cowpland Research Laboratory) managed to have success where Novell did not. Novell and Microsoft even entered into a legal battle with Novell claiming that their difficulties with WordPerfect were due to Microsoft's anti-competetive acts.
9. Internet company Excite joined forces with @Home_Network for $6.7 billion in 1999, creating Excite@Home. Two years later, the resignation of the second CEO since the merger was announced as the stock had dropped by what percentage over two years?

Answer: 90%

Less than a month later, in October of 2001, Excite@Home filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and the remaining company employees were laid off (over a few months).
10. Sometimes mergers fail before they can even get started, due to no fault of the merging companies. In 2001, General Electric (GE) and Honeywell International Inc. were set to merge and become the largest industrial merger in history (to that date) at an estimated value of $40 billion. All it needed was approval from both the European Commission (EC) and the United States Department of Justice. Which governing body nixed the deal, the EC or the US Dept. of Justice?

Answer: EC

This marked the first time that the European Commission went against an international merger that had already been approved by its non-European counterpart. The reason cited for the non-approval of the deal was that the merger would create too powerful an entity, and that it would smother the competetive abilities of other companies within the aerospace industry.
Source: Author reedy

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor stedman before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.
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