The five questions from Saturday, April 11, 2026, with their answers. This puzzle is
no longer playable; today's game is on the home page, and
the last seven days can still be played in the
practice archive.
1 This corporate defense mechanism involves a shareholder rights plan designed to prevent a hostile takeover by making the target company stock prohibitively expensive. When triggered it allows existing shareholders to buy additional shares at a discount which dilutes the ownership stake and voting power of the unwanted acquirer.
Answer: POISON(6 letters)
2 This software giant acquired LinkedIn for 26 billion dollars in 2016 and later became the second company in history to reach a 3 trillion dollar market capitalization. Under its current leadership it transitioned from a legacy Windows focus to a cloud first strategy and recently invested billions in generative artificial intelligence.
Answer: MICROSOFT(9 letters)
3 This venture capital term describes a privately held startup company with a post money valuation of at least one billion dollars. Though once rare the number of these entities surged during the low interest rate era of 2020 and 2021 leading to concerns about inflated valuations and unsustainable cash burn rates.
Answer: UNICORN(7 letters)
A privately held startup valued at more than one billion dollars.
4 In the world of corporate finance this term describes a situation where a company is unable to meet its financial obligations to its lenders as they become due. This can lead to a formal legal process where the company assets are liquidated or the business is reorganized under the supervision of a court to settle the outstanding claims of creditors.
Answer: DEFAULT(7 letters)
Failure to meet a debt obligation - missing a payment, or breaching a term that makes the debt immediately repayable.
5 This major European oil and gas company headquartered in London reported a record profit of nearly 40 billion dollars in 2022 following a surge in energy prices. The company is currently balancing a strategy of returning billions to shareholders through buybacks while also attempting to transition its massive energy portfolio toward renewable sources and low carbon technologies.