American Companies and their Stock Symbols Trivia Game | World

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. This company makes a wide variety of products, but tapes, adhesives, and cleaning pads are some of its best known items. In addition, its New York Stock symbol describes the name of the company. What is it?

Answer: MMM

3M Company, with the symbol MMM, makes the famous Scotch brand tapes and adhesives, as well as the convenient Post-it notes. 3M also manufactures Thinsulate fabric, which is used in gloves, hats and other pieces of thermal clothing. The company headquarters are in St. Paul, Minnesota.

2. Although it first named its web site "Jerry and David's Guide to the World Wide Web", this Internet powerhouse now has a shorter name. In early 2008, Microsoft offered to pay over $40 billion dollars for it. What is its stock symbol?

Answer: YHOO

Yahoo, incorporated in 1995, has "the world's most visited web site", according to- you guessed it- its web site. The company offers email services, entertainment, news, maps and other services on its site. The stock is listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange.

3. Starting in Texas, this company provided power for millions of people as it expanded into Europe. It owned electrical power plants and oil and gas reserves. In 2007, however, an investment partnership bought it, making it a private company. What was this company's symbol on the New York Stock Exchange?

Answer: TXU

Texas Utilities, an international conglomerate which bought Enserch Energy in 1997, was itself bought by a partnership headed by Kohlberg, Kravis and Roberts. The company is still operating, but it is no longer a public company and hence no longer listed on the New York Stock Exchange,

4. The stock symbol for the worldwide, online auction company eBay is simply EBAY.

Answer: True

Yes, Ebay is one of the few companies whose name is its stock symbol. It is listed on the NASDAQ exchange, which generally uses symbols made of four letters. Ebay owns Paypal, which is an online money exchange service that people use to buy or sell items on Ebay or to pay for other online items, like tickets.

5. A legacy of inventor Alexander Graham Bell, this communications company was forced to divest itself of many of its local companies. In addition, it spun off Lucent in 1996 and NCR in 1997. What is this company's stock symbol?

Answer: T

AT&T Corporation, whose New York Stock Symbol is just T, was acquired by SBC in 2005, but later that year changed its name back to AT&T Corp. In 1927, AT&T charged $75 for the first three minutes of a trans-Atlantic call, which was a lot of money back then (source: AT&T's web site). Another milestone occurred in 1968, when AT&T began the 911 emergency phone service.

6. Headquartered in Everett, Washington, this airplane-manufacturing company rolled out the "Dreamliner" passenger jet in 2007. This plane offers better fuel economy, larger windows and better communications systems, according to its manufacturer. What is the stock symbol for this company?

Answer: BA

Boeing, listed on the New York Stock exchange as BA, introduced its Boeing 787 on July 7, 2007 (the date is significant, because it is written 7/08/07). Boeing also made the 727, 737, 747 and other planes which are flown by many of the world's commercial airlines. In fact, as of 2007, all of Southwest Airline's planes were Boeing 737s.

7. This is another company headquartered in the beautiful state of Washington, and it sells coffee all over the world, with stores in the United States, Brazil, Germany, France, Greece and other countries. They also sell pastries, music CDs and provide wireless Internet in their stores. What is this company's stock symbol?

Answer: SBUX

Starbucks Corporation has the clever symbol SBUX, and is listed on the NASDAQ exchange. On their web site, the company claims to encourage good relations with their coffee growers, employees, and to "minimize our environmental footprint".

8. How many companies make over $40 billion in one year? This huge company drills for oil reserves, refines petroleum products, and owns service stations, and it made that profit milestone in 2007. What is the stock symbol for it?

Answer: XOM

ExxonMobil made approximately $4.6 million an hour in 2007, when it scored its record profit, according to the Washington Post newspaper. The company's name dates from 1999, when Exxon merged with Mobil Oil in an $80 billion deal. ExxonMobil also spends money on charitable causes: it has donated more than $40 million since 2000 in the Africa Health Initiative, which seeks to reduce the incidence of malaria in Africa, according to company publications.

9. The stock symbol for this company is HD, and their motto is "You can do it. We can help." What is the name of the company?

Answer: Home Depot

Home Depot, with its distinctive orange decor, is a chain of hardware stores of the "big box" variety. They sell kitchen appliances, flooring, lumber, plumbing supplies, and other items. The motto is from their web site and from television advertisements.

10. A huge company that owns Fruit of the Loom, Geico Insurance and Boat US, Berkshire Hathaway has the highest stock price on the New York Stock Exchange. In fact, on Feb. 8, 2008, its "A" shares closed at $138,400 each! What is the symbol for this stock?

Answer: BRKA

The Berkshire Hathaway Company actually has two classes of stock, the hugely expensive "A" shares, and the less expensive "B" shares. The "B" shares, however, have only 1/30 of the rights as the "A" shares, according to Warren Buffet, Berkshire Hathaway's famous chairman. Wouldn't it have been fun to buy this stock when it was much lower?

Source: Author severnriver

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor trident before going online.
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American Companies and their Stock Symbols Quiz

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