Capital One to acquire Brex for $5.15B • Hacker News Board

Re: Capital One to acquire Brex for $5.15B

#191

Post by raverbashing » Fri, Jan 23, 2026, 5:58 AM UTC

tecleandor wrote: post #123

xp84 wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(Frame of reference: US only) That's a shame, given 18-25 is just the age where a credit card skimmer or online card fraud causing a big fraudulent withdrawal from your checking account, and weeks of waiting to get it back, could be devastating. This has happened to people in my family (likely from gas stations) but we only use credit cards except to pull cash from ATMs, so we only suffer a temporary dip in our avail…

That's way less common in Europe. Most places are chip and pin or NFC and that limits skimming quite a lot.

Ah but you see, chip cards were a French invention so obviously the US is going to turn their head from it and pretend it doesn't exist for more than 20 yrs

Re: Capital One to acquire Brex for $5.15B

#192

Post by dalyons » Fri, Jan 23, 2026, 6:03 AM UTC

rahimnathwani wrote: post #161

bpodgursky wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I strongly suspect they shifted to RSUs at those valuations.

It seems unlikely that regular employees would be issued RSUs. Tax is due at vest, and you can't liquidate to fund the tax bill.

Nope, you as a company owner are highly motivated to shift to RSUs once you hit a certain valuation and number of employees. Everyone does it.

Re: Capital One to acquire Brex for $5.15B

#193

Post by tstrimple » Fri, Jan 23, 2026, 6:05 AM UTC

al_borland wrote: post #173

LgWoodenBadger wrote: post #35

Capitalone is going to need something to make up for switching all their debit cards from MasterCard to Discover

Yeah, I was pretty unhappy about this. They are already really annoying to use, with a bunch of “offers” popping up every time I open the app.

From ING Direct to Capital One Discover. From fuck Wellsfargo, I'll never do business with them again to two of my subsequent mortgages being sold to them over the last 20 years without my consent. This entire world is designed explicitly to fuck people over at literally every turn as long as someone in the chain somewhere can pocket an extra buck.

Re: Capital One to acquire Brex for $5.15B

#194

Post by tstrimple » Fri, Jan 23, 2026, 6:11 AM UTC

pc86 wrote: post #122

xp84 wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to mention the grace period. Especially with high interest rates, it's another perk to have thousands of my dollars stay in the bank all month while my credit card bill piles up. This matters less when rates are super low.

One thing I didn't truly appreciate until my wife and I consolidated our spending and had children - having nearly every expense flow through a credit card puts total spending into perspective without having to look through bank statements or keep up a spreadsheet. Getting a $10k bill when you're expecting $8k (or a $30k bill when you're expecting $20k) can be a pretty jarring event and is a built-in monthly touch po…

> One thing I didn't truly appreciate until my wife and I consolidated our spending and had children - having nearly every expense flow through a credit card puts total spending into perspective without having to look through bank statements or keep up a spreadsheet.

This can work amazingly well for some folks. And can be a spiral of debt for others. This is generally good advice if you can and do actually pay off your credit cards every month. This gets quickly out of control as soon as you don't or won't for one reason or another.

Re: Capital One to acquire Brex for $5.15B

#195

Post by margalabargala » Fri, Jan 23, 2026, 6:17 AM UTC

what wrote: post #190

tecleandor wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's way less common in Europe. Most places are chip and pin or NFC and that limits skimming quite a lot.

How so? My card was skimmed and I had only tapped it in maybe a half dozen locations. Never swiped it or inserted it anywhere or used it online.

Maybe you waved it in front of a hidden camera?

Re: Capital One to acquire Brex for $5.15B

#196

Post by panny » Fri, Jan 23, 2026, 6:18 AM UTC

Capital One are scumbags. I'm glad they are dying and spending their money on dying companies at the same time. Less than half valuation, lol.

Re: Capital One to acquire Brex for $5.15B

#197

Post by tyre » Fri, Jan 23, 2026, 6:20 AM UTC

Sn0wCoder wrote: post #109

herewulf wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't you think the 2 to 4% is built into the prices of every merchant that accepts credit cards, big or small? It's not a great system but it's what we have so using debit instead of credit does mean losing out.

At the big box stores absolutely they have it worked in to the prices. I have no idea if the local mom and pop shops are working that 2-4% into their prices or not.

Yes, they do. They understand where their margins go and the fees on credit cards are a huge one. They simply don’t have much of a choice.

Re: Capital One to acquire Brex for $5.15B

#198

Post by zamfi » Fri, Jan 23, 2026, 6:31 AM UTC

itake wrote: post #62

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its not great for those who got in later rounds, but I would assume all the investors had at least 1X preferences, so they'll at least get all their money back. I think this is a pretty decent outcome for Brex. I read they received a total of 1.3 billion in funding, so a 5.15 billion exit isn't bad, especially since the bottom dropped out of the market for so many fintechs that were founded and had big raises between…

I'm curious how the employees faired. Seems like they may bet getting nothing out of the deal if the investors get their money back.

These days, most employees getting nothing out of the deal is par for the course for acquisitions, unfortunately. The acquisition price is almost never exchanged directly for shares in the company as implied, often a chunk of it is kept for key personnel retention, etc. Typically just enough goes towards the share purchase to make investors happy, and the rest is structured as incentives for founders and key execs with milestone payouts. That‘s the set of people with leverage towards making the acquisition happen, so that‘s who gets paid.

If you‘re just a regular employee with some options, and the acquirer doesn‘t want to keep you on, you should expect nothing.

Re: Capital One to acquire Brex for $5.15B

#199

Post by pastel8739 » Fri, Jan 23, 2026, 6:32 AM UTC

SilverElfin wrote: post #147

itake wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

options can only last 7 years, but brex was founded in 2017.

When the options expire do they give new equivalent ones to the employees that hung on? Otherwise what’s the point?

You can exercise the options before that time is up, paying the strike price to convert them to shares

Re: Capital One to acquire Brex for $5.15B

#200

Post by BenjiWiebe » Fri, Jan 23, 2026, 6:33 AM UTC

Twisol wrote: post #74

apazzolini wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because you're leaving 2-3% on the table for every transaction. Using a credit card doesn't mean you can't pay it off in full every month, costing you zero in interest, while taking advantage of reward programs.

I have heard this, and it is probably a flaw in my approach to purchases. But is that really justification to ask "who in the world uses debit cards"? I still feel more comfortable not being on the hook to somebody, and the organizations that extend lines of credit don't do so as a prosocial program, certainly. (Just because some people can safely make use of credit doesn't mean everyone can. I know someone who has u…

No, credit card companies aren't giving out rewards at a loss. Better cards have a higher interchange rate, ie the merchant pays more fees to accept a good card.

Hence why cash discounts are a thing (and yes they're legal again).