A simple polytope P is called B-rigid if its combinatorial type is determined by the cohomology ring of the moment-angle manifold $\mathcal {Z}_P$ over P. We show that any tensor product decomposition of this cohomology ring is geometrically realized by a product decomposition of the moment-angle manifold up to equivariant diffeomorphism. As an application, we find that B-rigid polytopes are closed under products, generalizing some recent results in the toric topology literature. Algebraically, our proof establishes that the Koszul homology of a Gorenstein Stanley–Reisner ring admits a nontrivial tensor product decomposition if and only if the underlying simplicial complex decomposes as a join of full subcomplexes.

Let X be a 4-dimensional toric orbifold. If $H^{3}(X)$ has a non-trivial odd primary torsion, then we show that X is homotopy equivalent to the wedge of a Moore space and a CW-complex. As a corollary, given two 4-dimensional toric orbifolds having no 2-torsion in the cohomology, we prove that they have the same homotopy type if and only their integral cohomology rings are isomorphic.

We show that three- and four-stage Bott manifolds are classified up to diffeomorphism by their integral cohomology rings. In addition, any cohomology ring isomorphism between two three-stage Bott manifolds can be realized by a diffeomorphism between the Bott manifolds.