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Answers to AMA Member Challenge
February 2009

1. Name the new touch-screen version of Research In Motion’s BlackBerry that has users raging, due to its software bugs and hardware glitches.

• Twister
• Black Ice
• Storm
• Tsunami

Correct answer: Storm. RIM developed the BlackBerry Storm, which uses Verizon Wireless, to compete with Apple’s blockbuster iPhone, which is supported by AT&T. RIM co-chief executive Jim Balsillie said he considers the Storm “an overwhelming success.” The company released a software fix for the Storm in December.

2. After 62 days of counting and re-counting nearly three million ballots, Democrat Al Franken was finally declared the winner of which state’s Senate race?

• Minnesota
• Michigan
• Maryland
• Missouri

Correct answer: Minnesota. The results of the final recount showed that Franken, best known for his appearances on “Saturday Night Live,” beat his Republican opponent, incumbent Norm Coleman, by 225 votes. Coleman has introduced a lawsuit challenging the results of the election and the recount.

3. Recession? Not in this year’s Super Bowl, where a 30-second commercial set advertisers back a record amount of how much?

• $1 million
• $3 million
• $8 million
• $10 million

Correct answer: $3 million. According to “USA Today,” the cost of a 30-second commercial during Super Bowl XLIII is now $3 million, up from last year’s $2.7 million. The advertiser with the most spots? Once again, it’s Anheuser-Busch, with nine.

4. Bernard Madoff’s alleged financial misdeeds have been likened to what kind of “scheme” that pays off early investors using money collected from later investors?

• Bocci
• Dondi
• Pucci
• Ponzi

Correct answer: Ponzi. Charles Ponzi was an early 20th century scamster who became a millionaire by promising investors a return of 50% in just a few days. At his peak, Ponzi took in $250,000 a day. He later went to prison and eventually was deported.

5. What New York-based pharmaceutical company—the world’s largest—will acquire competitor Wyeth for $68 million?

• Alchema
• Pfizer
• Stentor
• GlaxoSmithKline

Correct answer: Pfizer.  Pfizer will borrow $22.5 billion to make the deal, using a combination of cash, debt, and stock. Pfizer owns cholesterol-cutting Lipitor, the top-selling drug of all time.