Billion Dollar Acquisitions, Apple Fines, & Changing Crypto Rules
- Dollar Deals – Dollar Tree is selling Family Dollar for $1 billion to Brigade Capital Management and Macellum Capital Management. Dollar Tree purchased Family Dollar in 2015 for $9 billion (source: CNN).
- Healthcare Hack – The Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating Oracle’s cyberattack from January 2025 after Oracle alerted healthcare customers that hackers had accessed their servers and copied patient data (source: Reuters).
- Stable Stats – February unemployment rates were higher in one state (Florida) and stable in the remaining 49 states and the District of Columbia. The February 2025 national unemployment rate was 4.1%, which was 0.2% higher than February 2024 (source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics).
- Another Apple Fine – Apple is facing a $162.4 million French antitrust fine over its App Tracking Transparency Tool. This comes after the European Union fined Apple nearly $2 billion for not promoting rival music streaming services on the App Store (source: Yahoo Finance).
- Rocket’s Real Estate Rise – Rocket Companies, a fintech firm, has entered a $9.4 billion deal to buy Mr. Cooper Group, a home loan servicer. Earlier in March, Rocket acquired Redfin, a real estate listing platform, for $1.75 billion (source: Reuters).
- Upgraded Wi-Fi – United Airlines has received approval from the Federal Aviation Administration for the first Starlink-equipped aircraft for commercial flights. United Airlines plans to add Elon Musk’s Starlink to 300 planes by the end of the year (source: Reuters).
- FAFSA Fraud – Charlie Javice was found guilty of defrauding JPMorgan after JPMorgan bought her startup company, Frank, for $175 million. Javice claimed to have over four million clients using her FAFSA software; however, the platform only had 300,000 users (source: CBS News).
- Changing Crypto Rules – The FDIC announced that banks can engage in cryptocurrency activities without receiving prior approval if they manage their risk properly. This reverses a previous FDIC policy, which required banks to obtain approval for any crypto activities in advance (source: Reuters).
- Strengthening Support – Pew Research found that fewer people support a TikTok ban. In March 2023, 50% of respondents supported a ban. This percentage has dropped to 34% as of March 2025 (source: Pew Research).
- Hittin’ Home Runs – The New York Yankees opened their season with a new bat, being coined the “Torpedo” bat. The Yankees tied the Major League Baseball record with 15 home runs in the first three games of the season (source: Major League Baseball).
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