Which Canadian company was hacked this week? Take The Globe’s business and investing news quiz

Welcome to The Globe and Mail’s business and investing news quiz. Join us each week to test your knowledge of the stories making the headlines. Our business reporters come up with the questions, and you can show us what you know.

This week in business and investing: The former chief executive officer of a noted Canadian company came out of retirement to retake the reins of a business she started more than three decades ago, after the previous boss quit – just one year into the gig. The last year has been fairly tumultuous for the company, with leadership shakeups, a cyberattack, the exit of half of its board and competitive pressures in the industry.

Meanwhile, a U.S.-based software company also attempted to bring back former staffers – this time, employees that were part of mass layoffs. The business offered relatively plush perks, as part of its pitch to ex-staffers to return. Elsewhere, borrowing costs remain sky-high, and a Canadian province wants to separate – from the federal pension program, that is.

Do you remember these stories? Take our quiz below to test your recall for the week ending Sept. 21.

1‘If you want to bring in the ______ CEOs and whip them with wet noodles, you can do that,’ Prof. Christopher Ragan said about executives from which industry?

a. Grocery

b. Bank

c. Entertainment

d. Oil and gas

a. Grocery. Prof. Ragan was referring to the move by the federal government to summon grocery chain executives to Ottawa to testify over food inflation (still far above most other components CPI data).

2Founder and former CEO ____ announced she’s coming out of retirement to retake the helm of _____, the company she founded 30 years ago.

a. Arlene Dickinson, Indigo

b. Heather Reisman, Indigo

c. Margaret Atwood, Indigo

d. Arlene Dickinson, Chapters

b. Heather Reisman. It’s the latest in a year of leadership shakeups at the bookseller; in early September, Indigo announced the departure of its CEO and president after just one year in the job.

3The Walt Disney Company said it would be doubling its capital expenditure into its parks division as Disney+ continues to see losses. How much will they invest in parks in the next 10 years?

a. US$33-billion

b. US$100-billion

c. US$60-billion

d. US$50-billion

4Yet another Canadian company was the victim of cyberattacks this week. Which company announced

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Bill Gates on ‘Super Mean’ Elon Musk After He Shorted Tesla Stock

  • Elon Musk shot down Bill Gates’ attempts to talk about giving to charity after Gates shorted Tesla stock.
  • “He was super mean to me, but he’s super mean to so many people, so you can’t take it too personally,” Gates said.
  • Their exchange was detailed in an excerpt from Walter Isaacson’s forthcoming biography of Musk.

An excerpt of an upcoming biography of Elon Musk shed light on what Musk and Bill Gates thought of each other following a negative exchange over Gates taking a short position against Musk’s Tesla.

Walter Isaacson, a writer who spent three years trailing the Tesla CEO, said that in early 2022, Gates was talking to Musk about philanthropy, having proposed that Musk donate to refugees, American education, finding a cure for AIDS, mosquito eradication, and climate-resistant seeds.

Isaacson detailed Gates’ and Musk’s encounter in his forthcoming biography, “Elon Musk.” The book is set to be published on September 12. CNBC ran an excerpt of the biography on Sunday.

After their initial chat, when Gates followed up with Musk again in April via text, Musk shot back: “Sorry. I cannot take your philanthropy on climate seriously when you have a massive short position against Tesla, the company doing the most to solve climate change.”

Shorting a stock means an investor is betting on its value to drop. Musk said in April 2022 that Gates had taken a half-billion dollar short position against Tesla.

Speaking about this incident to Isaacson, Gates told the writer he even apologized to Musk. 

“Once he heard I’d shorted the stock, he was super mean to me, but he’s super mean to so many people, so you can’t take it too personally,” Gates told Isaacson. 

Gates also told Isaacson his decision was a business move, as he anticipated the supply of electric vehicles would soon outpace demand, leading to a price drop.

The full text exchange between Musk and Gates — which Isaacson recounted in the biography — was first leaked online in April 2022. Musk confirmed its authenticity on Twitter.

 

Explaining how he heard of the short, Musk tweeted: “I heard from multiple people at TED that Gates still had half billion short against Tesla, which is why I asked him, so it’s not exactly top secret.”

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‘It’s beautiful’: St. John’s Black-owned market helps small businesses share culture, creativity

Margaret Asuquo, who started a small jewelry and craft business called Marge’s Creations and Designs last year, says it’s amazing to have the opportunity to sell her work alongside other creators at the Black-owned vendor market in St. John’s. (Jessica Singer/CBC)

Margaret Asuquo says she’s been creative her entire life, always picking up new hobbies that allow her to use her hands to create something beautiful.

Being able to sell her original work — including beaded bags, earrings and necklaces — alongside other Black artists and creators at a vendor market is nothing short of “amazing,” she said.

“It is like the biggest pat on the back,” said Asuquo, who started a small jewlery and craft business called Marge’s Creations and Designs last year.

“To kind of see it come to life and then hear people like kind of say, ‘It’s beautiful’ and everything is like, oh my God, my heart is full. So it’s amazing.”

The Black-owned vendor market celebrated its third anniversary Saturday on George Street in St. John’s, an event that included live music and performances, as well as Black vendors selling clothing, food and jewlery.

A woman wearing a bright orange, blue and red sun dress smiles while standing beside a table covered in brightly coloured textiles and clothing.
Nicole Obiodiaka is the organizer and founder of Centra, an organization that works to curate cultural experiences in the city, including the Black-owned vendor market, which celebrated its third anniversary on George Street Saturday. (Jessica Singer/CBC)

Nicole Obiodiaka is the organizer and founder of Centra, an organization that works to curate cultural experiences in the city, including the vendor market.

This year’s market was the biggest yet and the first on George Street. Last year it was held at the St. John’s Farmers’ Market. 

Obiodiaka hopes the market will continue to grow and expand.

Not only is the market a “beautiful” way for small businesses to showcase their talents and creativity, Obiodiaka said, but it’s also a way for Newfoundlanders and Labradorians to experience other cultures. 

“It can be through shopping, through dialogue, through the music, like, it’s a whole multisensory experience to immerse yourself in our culture,” she said. “So it’s beautiful.”

Margaret Ajayi, the owner of St. John’s baking and catering compan Meggs Cakes & Events, moved to the province around four years ago from Nigeria. She can’t remember how many cakes she’s baked or events she’s catered since she arrived.

A woman wearing a black shirt stands in between two young girls.
Margaret Ajayi is the owner of Meggs Cakes & Events, a baking and catering company in St. John’s.
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When your business doesn’t need SEO

While SEO can be highly effective, it’s not a one-size-fits-all solution for all businesses.

SEO might not be the immediate answer to your digital marketing needs.

Here’s why SEO may not be the best fit for a business, with alternatives and insights into when it may be a more valuable investment.

1. You require fast results

Do you need fast results for your business and a way to attract tons of visitors to your website in no time? Then SEO may not be your best course of action. 

SEO takes time to work.

New websites can take at least three to six months to rank on Google. Even then, 95% of pages don’t enter the top 10 positions within a year, per an Ahrefs study. 

Results will vary depending on your strategy, but data suggests that you must wait to see an impact. That’s why this path is not for everyone. 

For example, if you are hosting a one-time event or concert, or it’s the first time you are organizing it, you are limited in time. 

You can’t just wait for search engines to index your website or for people to start searching for your event. You need to make them aware of it and get them excited. 

That’s when paid search or social media ads are more effective in promoting your event and getting people to buy tickets or register.

Or let’s say you have a new solution, such as a CRM or a mobile app, that you want to introduce to the market. You want to show people how awesome your solution is and how it can solve their problems. 

Here, you can’t rely solely on SEO. You’ll need to use other marketing methods to grab your audience’s attention and convince them to try your solution. 

PPC advertising is key in this case. After you build up some traction and reputation, you can start investing in SEO, as people will search for your solution independently.

So, SEO is not always the best option if you need to quickly generate interest around a new topic or when launching a new product to the market. 

You’ll need marketing methods that will help you reach your target audience instantly, such as social media ads or other types of paid advertising, and drive them to your website or landing page. 

2. You operate on a tight budget or limited resources

SEO

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Danny Stoffman and the baby boomer book that changed Canadian business

Stoffman, who co-wrote bestseller Boom, Bust & Echo, and died in July, helped bring demographics into boardrooms

Published Sep 11, 2023  •  Last updated 2 days ago  •  5 minute read

David Foot, left, and Daniel Stoffman, right, with a re-release of their best-seller Boom, Bust & Echo in 2006. Photo by Handout/Vancouver Sun files

David Foot was squirrelled away in a corner of the University of Toronto economics department when journalist Daniel Stoffman called him up to do a story on a Canadian real estate bubble that, at the time, had only recently popped.

The housing crash of 1989 caused chaos and plummeting prices, and left a bunch of homeowners wondering why they had paid so much, what had gone wrong and why they didn’t see it coming.

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But Foot saw the end coming plain as day. Demographics, he theorized, provided the explanation. The population bulge born between

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