American Companies and their Stock Symbols Quiz

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.

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.

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,

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.

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.

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.

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".

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.

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.

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?