Friday's Fast Five: Week of 12.22

How the $1.8 Billion Real-Estate Commissions Lawsuit Came to Be (The Wall Street Journal): The litigation that could end up changing how millions of Americans buy and sell homes was hiding in plain sight for three decades.

He blew the whistle on Amazon. He’s still paying the price (Financial Times): Four years after Tang Mingfang called out the injustices he witnessed at a Foxconn factory in China, nothing has changed — except for him

Space tech forecast for 2024: Rising investments, lunar exploration, and pivotal SpaceX moments(TechCrunch): Huge technological developments have continued, with new sectors developing space solutions to help tackle some of humanity’s greatest problems on Earth. Advancements in sectors such as life sciences and material sciences are a potential gold mine for new classes of drugs, and novel materials developed in space could have a transformational impact on verticals like pharmaceuticals, telecoms, and microelectronics. The transformational progress we have witnessed in 2023 has laid the groundwork for some exciting developments we can expect to see in 2024

The Office Market Had It Hard in 2023. Next Year Looks Worse. (The Wall Street Journal): Office building owners, hammered by falling demand and high interest rates, struggled in 2023. But they mostly managed to stay afloat. That is going to be a lot harder to do next year. Many landlords have been able to extend their loans, often by putting in more capital. But a lot of those extensions are now expiring, and owners are losing hope that occupancy rates will rebound soon.

Babe Ruth Rookie Card, Hailed as One of Rarest in the World, Sells for $7.2 Million (Barron's - Penta): More than 75 years after his death, Babe Ruth continues to loom large over the sports memorabilia industry, as evidenced by his latest achievement. In closing Robert Edward Auctions’ fall sale, the baseball icon’s 1914 Baltimore News rookie card sold in an online auction early Monday morning to an unidentified online bidder for US$7.2 million, including the buyer’s premium, making it the most expensive item connected to legend ever sold.