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Detroit-based fintech platform Rocket Companies (NYSE: RKT) has reached an agreement to acquire the Seattle mortgage services company Redfin (NASDAQ: RDFN) in an all-stock transaction valued at $1.75 billion, the companies announced on Monday. Each Redfin share will be exchanged for 0.7926 shares of Rockets Class A common stock, with the deal expected to close in mid-2025, pending shareholder and regulatory approvals. Following the announcement, Redfins stock soared nearly 70%, reaching $9.91 in premarket trading. This surge came after Rocket Companies agreed to acquire Redfin for $12.50 per share, representing a premium of 63% over Redfin’s recent average price. On the other hand, Rockets stock dropped around 13%. Forming a real estate-lending powerhouse The acquisition brings together two major players in real estate and mortgage lending. Redfin, founded in 2004, operates one of the nations most visited real estate platforms, with nearly 50 million monthly users and a network of over 2,200 agents. Rocket Companies, known for its mortgage and financial services, views the deal as a step toward streamlining the home-buying process. Rocket and Redfin share a unified vision of a better way to buy and sell homes, said Rocket CEO Varun Krishna. Together, we will enhance the experience by connecting traditionally separate steps of the search and financing process with leading technology. The acquisition is expected to drive Rockets mortgage growth, giving Redfin users direct access to Rockets financing products. Rocket anticipates over $200 million in synergies by 2027, including cost savings and new revenue opportunities.
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When U.S. President Donald Trump first suggested buying Greenland in 2019, people thought it was just a joke. No one is laughing now.Trump’s interest in Greenland, restated vigorously soon after he returned to the White House in January, comes as part of an aggressively “America First” foreign policy platform that includes demands for Ukraine to hand over mineral rights in exchange for continued military aid, threats to take control of the Panama Canal, and suggestions that Canada should become the 51st U.S. state. Why Greenland? Increasing international tensions, global warming and the changing world economy have put Greenland at the heart of the debate over global trade and security, and Trump wants to make sure that the U.S. controls this mineral-rich country that guards the Arctic and North Atlantic approaches to North America. Who does Greenland belong to? Greenland is a self-governing territory of Denmark, a long-time U.S. ally that has rejected Trump’s overtures. Denmark has also recognized Greenland’s right to independence at a time of its choosing.Amid concerns about foreign interference and demands that Greenlanders must control their own destiny, the island’s prime minister called an early parliamentary election for Tuesday.The world’s largest island, 80% of which lies above the Arctic Circle, is home to about 56,000 mostly Inuit people who until now have been largely ignored by the rest of the world. Why are other countries interested in Greenland? Climate change is thinning the Arctic ice, promising to create a northwest passage for international trade and reigniting the competition with Russia, China, and other countries over access to the region’s mineral resources.“Let us be clear: we are soon entering the Arctic Century, and its most defining feature will be Greenland’s meteoric rise, sustained prominence and ubiquitous influence,” said Dwayne Menezes, managing director of the Polar Research and Policy Initiative.“Greenlandlocated on the crossroads between North America, Europe, and Asia, and with enormous resource potentialwill only become more strategically important, with all powers great and small seeking to pay court to it. One is quite keen to go a step further and buy it.”The following are some of the factors that are driving U.S. interest in Greenland. Arctic competition Following the Cold War, the Arctic was largely an area of international cooperation. But climate change, the hunt for scarce resources, and increasing international tensions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are once again driving competition in the region. Strategic importance Greenland sits off the northeastern coast of Canada, with more than two-thirds of its territory lying within the Arctic Circle. That has made it crucial to the defense of North America since World War II, when the U.S. occupied Greenland to ensure that it didn’t fall into the hands of Nazi Germany and to protect crucial North Atlantic shipping lanes.The U.S. has retained bases in Greenland since the war, and the Pituffik Space Base, formerly Thule Air Force Base, supports missile warning, missile defense and space surveillance operations for the U.S. and NATO. Greenland also guards part of what is known as the GIUK (Greenland, Iceland, United Kingdom) Gap, where NATO monitors Russian naval movements in the North Atlantic. Natural resources Greenland has large deposits of so-called rare earth minerals that are needed to make everything from computers and smartphones to the batteries, solar, and wind technologies that will power the transition away from fossil fuels. The U.S. Geological Survey has also identified potential offshore deposits of oil and natural gas.Greenlanders are keen to develop the resources, but they have enacted strict rules to protect the environment. There are also questions about the feasibility of extracting Greenland’s mineral wealth because of the region’s harsh climate. Climate change Greenland’s retreating ice cap is exposing the country’s mineral wealth and melting sea ice is opening up the once-mythical Northwest Passage through the Arctic.Greenland sits strategically along two potential routes through the Arctic, which would reduce shipping times between the North Atlantic and Pacific and bypass the bottlenecks of the Suez and Panama canals. While the routes aren’t likely to be commercially viable for many years, they are attracting attention. Chinese interest In 2018, China declared itself a “near-Arctic state” in an effort to gain more influence in the region. China has also announced plans to build a “Polar Silk Road” as part of its global Belt and Road Initiative, which has created economic links with countries around the world.Then-U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo rejected China’s move, saying: “Do we want the Arctic Ocean to transform into a new South China Sea, fraught with militarization and competing territorial claims?” A Chinese-backed rare earth mining project in Greenland stalled after the local government banned uranium mining in 2021. Independence The legislation that extended self-government to Greenland in 2009 also recognized the country’s right to independence under international law. Opinion polls show a majority of Greenlanders favor independence, though they differ on exactly when that should occur. The potential for independence raises questions about outside interference in Greenland that could threaten U.S. interests in the country. Danica Kirka, Associated Press
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Even though Tarana Burke is still correcting some past misconceptions about the #MeToo movement that went mainstream about eight years agoits not dead, for example, and it wasnt a witch huntshes focused on the future. Specifically, the movements founder said organizing has already begun for the 2026 U.S. midterm elections. Im really looking forward to what we can do to build on the campaign we started in 2024, Burke, chief vision officer of Me too. International, said Saturday during a discussion at the Fast Company Grill at SXSW. Im really excited about the idea of building a constituency; imagine us voting along the lines of our survivorship. One goal for the movements future, Burke said, is to help people see how sexual and gender-based violence is interwoven with so many other issues, including gun violence, homelessness, prison reform, food deserts, and maternal mortality. Part of our work is helping people to understand that there’s not an issue that you care about that does not touch on sexual and gender-based violence, she told the audience. We need to stop trying to silo these issues; theres so much work that we can do together. Working in tandem on social issues may elicit more attention from politicians or leaders who dont address issues of sexual and gender-based violence, according to Burke. We need to keep holding peoples feet to the fire. Solving a solvable issue That said, activists face new challenges. Funding for support work to end sexual and gender-based violence is at an all-time low, Burke said, while local rape crisis centers are at-risk of losing all of their federal funding. Writing a check, of course, is one solution, but the fight to end sexual and gender-based violence will require interventions on various frontssimilar to approaches taken to make America smoke-free. This is a solvable issue if we want to solve it, Burke said. There are still problems to be fixed, however, like the framing that a mans life is being ruined if hes accused of sexual violence and a frequent premise that the person making the accusation isnt telling the truth. Thats why its important for people to be given the respect and dignity of an investigation, Burke said. That helps everybody involved, she added. If you are the person being accused or you’re the person who has the accusation, everybody involved should be treated with respect and humanity. A focus on accountability Another misconception is that people who inflict harm on others must be banished, and theres no pathway back for them. Burke wants to see accountability from the people who have caused harm, rather than for them to disappear for a while and reemerge again as though nothing happened. What we’re saying is, if you want to be amongst civil society, we need to understand that you won’t cause harm again, that you understand that you caused harm in the first place, Burke told the audience. And the biggest problem with a lot of these men who have these accusations and have these things that have actually been proven is that we don’t see any of that. Without accountability, its tempting for voters to excuse past accusations by justifying some of the good work a politician did in the past. And theres a pertinent example right now that Burke, a New Yorker, weighed in on. New York City currently has a terrible mayor in Eric Adams, at least in Burkes opinion, but she feels a little angry that he could be replaced by another terrible politician. Thats because Andrew Cuomo, the former governor of New York who stepped down amid numerous sexual harassment accusations, recently announced hes running for mayor. I just want us to do better and dream better and think bigger, Burke said of this political situation. If we actually want these things to stop, if we want to make an impact on the issue of sexual and gender-based violence, we have to figure out where the line is and hold the line. A movement of everyday people Of course setbacks are inevitable, as Burke acknowledged, though when the pendulum swings back the other way, she said there are tangible signs of the movements progress since #MeToo went viral in 2017 that wont simply disappear. She points to law and policy changes in that time, along with the way people think and talk about sexual violence. There has been a cultural shift, said Burke, who coined the Me Too phrase nearly two decades ago while working with sexual assault survivors. This is a movement that has empowered so many survivors, that has helped so many find community, that has been such a catalyst for healing and action, which is what our organization is about. Still, she said there is more work to be done. And looking to the future, Burke is calling on the publics help. Movements are not just about the people with the microphone, the person with the bullhorn in the front, Burke said. Movements are built from everyday people.
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