Indian

Q1. Rabindra Nath Tagore once advertised for an Indian soap brand. Which one?

Ans. Godrej Soap ( at that time the Godrej Soaps had only one brand – Godrej)

Q2. ‘Bringing the Rainbow’, is the title of the autobiography of the patriarch of the one of the most prominent business houses in India. Name the person.

Ans.. R. K. Somany of the Somany Group (HSIL)

Q3. The parent multi-platform Dutch company is one of the top media content companies in the world. Its Indian subsidiary hit the jackpot with the reality TV show which is in its 10^th season now. Which is this company?

Ans. Endemol is the company. Big Boss is the reality TV franchise.

Global 

Q4. “On one of my trips to the Audi factory in Ingolstadt, I saw the line ‘Vorsprung durch Technik’ on a fading piece of publicity. I thought, why not use this line? And importantly, let’s keep it in German. Mad as that sounds, I reasoned it would really stand out.” Wrote one of the most highly feted creative directors who co-founded three iconic British ad agencies, one after another. Who is he?

Ans. John Hegarty who had the distinction of being a founding member of  Saatchi & Saatchi, TBWA and BBH.

Q5. Name the former creative director at Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent who startled the film world by his critically acclaimed maiden directorial venture in 2009 which was nominated for the top award in the Venice International Film Festival.

Ans.. Tom Ford. A Single Man starring Colin Firth (who won a number of Best actor prizes for his lead role) is the film which made him an overnight star director.

Q6. Warren Buffett is known as the ‘Oracle of Omaha’. Which legendary investor is known as the ‘Oracle of Boston’?

Ans.   Seth Klarman, the chief executive and portfolio manager of the Baupost Group.

Q7. Members of this hedge fund’s board of directors included Myron S. Scholes and Robert C. Merton, who shared the 1997 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. It grew over $100 billion in assets in less than three years. But in 1998, swiftly, it lost $4.4 billion of its $4.7 billion in capital and eventually went bust.  Which hedge fund we are talking about?

Ans. LTCM (Long Term Capital Management). The entire story is recounted in Roger Lowenstein’s book, When Genius Failed, with details on the specific strategies and financial theories employed by LTCM.

Q8. Until the Citigroup pulled down its shutters, Old Lane, LP used to be a private equity firm specializing in fund of fund investments. With its head quarter in New York City, it also managed hedge funds for its clients. What was its Indian connection?

Ans.. India-born Vikram Pandit was the founder of Old lane which he sold off to Citigroup when he became its CEO.

This is a Guest Post by Prof Rajib Sarkar. He will play the quiz master occasionally.