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Capital One to acquire Brex for $5.15B

reuters.com

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Re: Capital One to acquire Brex for $5.15B

#321

Post by lotsofpulp »

neilv wrote: post #314
lotsofpulp wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because “shares” are not all the same. Preferred vs common, so unless you negotiated some kind of preferred share terms, assume your shares are worthless. For a non publicly listed company. For a publicly listed company, the details are all publicly available, so the different types of shares will have their different prices be easily available to see.

If that's true, when a startup is making you an offer for ISOs of common shares, and explaining it... how likely are they to know that, in event of a successful exit for the startup, your shares would be diluted and preferenced to 0 value? (The two most recent offer equity components I accepted were "2%" and "a million shares". On the latter, an upper exec did a kind of deal-closer meeting for their offer, showing me…

> If that's true, when a startup is making you an offer for ISOs of common shares, and explaining it... how likely are they to know that, in event of a successful exit for the startup, your shares would be diluted and preferenced to 0 value?

If they have any experience, or even just browse a forum like this, they should be 100% likely to know. The person on the opposite side of the negotiating table has a goal of giving you as little as possible in exchange for your work (and vice versa).

Re: Capital One to acquire Brex for $5.15B

#322

Post by pm90 »

PlatoIsADisease wrote: post #271
KellyCriterion wrote: post #261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

...and Blockchain!

Was this ever a thing? I know individual investors get pretty crazy for blockchain, but I don't recall any major companies doing big investments. At most, I was asked about it briefly, explained what the usecases were, and it never came up again.

stripe bought a stablecoin and its leadership seems to talk about it a lot https://www.pymnts.com/news/ipo/2026/stripe-co-founder-says-...

> Cryptocurrency and stablecoins are also starting to see traction after an extended struggle to gain mainstream adoption, John Collison added, per the report.

> William Gaybrick, Stripe’s president of product and business, referred to agentic commerce and stablecoins as “twin revolutions in intelligence and money” at a company event in 2025, the report said.

Re: Capital One to acquire Brex for $5.15B

#323

Post by hvb2 »

silisili wrote: post #283
hvb2 wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Retailers(in the US) typically eat the cost This is what I really have a problem with. It feels so incomprehensible to me that, assuming you're an adult, you can think this. It's just a cost, if that cost didn't exist then either the price would be lower or the margin would be higher. In the end you're paying for it. You're the one exchanging money for a good/service. This is proven by your other comment about how…

That's a fair argument, and if all companies decided to pass the costs directly on to the user at checkout time, the conversation/advice would probably be a lot different. For whatever reason most do not, so it's advantageous to use the one with better legal protections. It's not only about purchase protection/disputes, but liability and timelines when/if someone steals your card info and makes a bunch of fraudulent…

But most debit cards cannot be used with just the numbers. So I can give you my debit card and you can't do anything with it.

You typically need a PIN for any decent purchase. Sure you can tap to pay but that wouldn't be a lot of money fast as it asks for a PIN above a certain amount. That problem of copying the card data is only because it's a credit card and that's all you need to make a purchase.

As to skimming, in Europe there was some active skimming going on in the early 2000s which is why I can't even recall seeing a terminal here that still issues the magnetic strip.

Re: Capital One to acquire Brex for $5.15B

#324

Post by hvb2 »

vel0city wrote: post #295
hvb2 wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Retailers(in the US) typically eat the cost This is what I really have a problem with. It feels so incomprehensible to me that, assuming you're an adult, you can think this. It's just a cost, if that cost didn't exist then either the price would be lower or the margin would be higher. In the end you're paying for it. You're the one exchanging money for a good/service. This is proven by your other comment about how…

> those legal protections are useless for the majority of purchases I think you're misunderstanding the protections we're talking about. When someone steals my credit card and spends $10k on it, I just dispute it. The charges don't show up on my bill until after the investigation happens, and chances are it will be found in my favor. I continue having my cash in my bank account. Life continues with no changes. When s…

> When someone steals my debit card and spends all my cash, I dispute it.

You gave them your PIN too? Yes, then you have something you explain.

Without it no one is spending anything beyond the tap to pay amount which would typically be low amount (double digits)

Re: Capital One to acquire Brex for $5.15B

#325

Post by qeternity »

jjfoooo4 wrote: post #312
qeternity wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Spoken like someone who has never started a business. Brex raised much less than $5b and Capital One apparently thinks it is worth more than that (otherwise they wouldn’t buy it). This is called value creation.

I think the investors who put $300m in at a $12b valuation would disagree

I don’t think you understand how liquidation preferences work.

They will get $300m back.

Opportunity cost sure. But zero nominal loss.

Re: Capital One to acquire Brex for $5.15B

#326

Post by qeternity »

pinnochio wrote: post #236
qeternity wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Spoken like someone who has never started a business. Brex raised much less than $5b and Capital One apparently thinks it is worth more than that (otherwise they wouldn’t buy it). This is called value creation.

Definitely. No company has ever overpaid for another company. No fraud or FOMO-driven overvaluation has ever occurred in an acquisition. And all acquisitions have always turned out for the best. It's all 100% pure value creation.

Definitely. And some random guy on HN knows the value of Brex to Capital One better than Capital One does.

Brex can be worth $5b today and also be worth less in the future. These two realities don’t conflict. Acquisitions can and do end poorly. But the vast majority work well. I am not sure what you don’t understand about that?

Re: Capital One to acquire Brex for $5.15B

#327

Post by phil21 »

hvb2 wrote: post #229
silisili wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course it's a US view. It's a US site and the OP even prefaced it as such. Does every reply need to do the same? Retailers(in the US) typically eat the cost. Some industries(in the US), like gun shops, are up front about charging more for credit card payments. Most companies(in the US) just see it as cost of doing business. Points have next to nothing to do with why you should always use credit cards(in the US). T…

> Retailers(in the US) typically eat the cost This is what I really have a problem with. It feels so incomprehensible to me that, assuming you're an adult, you can think this. It's just a cost, if that cost didn't exist then either the price would be lower or the margin would be higher. In the end you're paying for it. You're the one exchanging money for a good/service. This is proven by your other comment about how…

> In such transactions you're basically just inviting a company to take a cut for 0 added benefit

Simply not true. Every transaction with a card carries some risk of those cards details being leaked or even an innocent error being made by a cashier or clerk fat-fingering things. Some more than others, and you could maybe argue the risk is minimal - but it's there. Especially in the US where card transactions are less secure on average regardless of debit or credit.

Credit carries significantly more consumer protection in the US. Debit in theory has all sorts of legal protection, but as the other commenter states - in practice it's really spotty.

Even in your scenario of a burrito or grocery purchase credit is going to be much better. So long as you don't make a habit of chargebacks they are typically pretty automatic for most card issuers so long as you present a compelling case. If you're a "valued customer" you tend to get a few freebies before they start to really demand evidence of fraud for such things.

Re: Capital One to acquire Brex for $5.15B

#328

Post by phil21 »

reaperducer wrote: post #111
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…

fraudulent withdrawal from your checking account, and weeks of waiting to get it back I've had this happen to me twice in about 25 years. Neither bank made me wait weeks. The most recent one (with a giant megabank) issued a provisional credit in under an hour. There seem to be a lot of people in this thread who have never actually been through this and are just apeing what other people say online. U.S. banks largely…

> There seem to be a lot of people in this thread who have never actually been through this and are just apeing what other people say online.

I've been through it personally and with friends.

My experience was basically yours. I am a relatively highly paid professional with a large amount of assets with my bank. I get pretty good service, even at my giant national retail bank. I call, make a demand, they tend to just do it without too many questions.

My more low income friends have also gone through it, and I've assisted with them since they were panic'ing. Their experience is absolutely nothing like mine. Every single one spent days to weeks being sandbagged by sometimes the same bank I dealt with on my issue.

Your experience will very greatly depending on how "valuable" of a customer your bank feels you are to them.

> U.S. banks largely give debit cards the same protections as credit cards for at least the last 15 years.

On paper, sure. In practice, no. Funds frozen during an "investigation" matter a whole lot more when it's your money vs. a made up credit limit number that wasn't real to begin with.

Re: Capital One to acquire Brex for $5.15B

#329

Post by vel0city »

hvb2 wrote: post #324
vel0city wrote: post #295

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> those legal protections are useless for the majority of purchases I think you're misunderstanding the protections we're talking about. When someone steals my credit card and spends $10k on it, I just dispute it. The charges don't show up on my bill until after the investigation happens, and chances are it will be found in my favor. I continue having my cash in my bank account. Life continues with no changes. When s…

> When someone steals my debit card and spends all my cash, I dispute it. You gave them your PIN too? Yes, then you have something you explain. Without it no one is spending anything beyond the tap to pay amount which would typically be low amount (double digits)

Not all debit transactions require PIN inputs here in the US. Many can also just go through the credit card networks. For example, all my debit cards in my wallet right now have a VISA logo on them and can run through as if charging a VISA card. I've had other accounts and banks in the past which went through the Mastercard network. However, I do not get any of the extra protections, the money comes straight out of my checking accounts.

On top of that, I can use the card online using the same kind of credit card numbers. This does not require a PIN.

Re: Capital One to acquire Brex for $5.15B

#330

Post by phil21 »

Sn0wCoder wrote: post #77
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.

You do realize that 2-4% is not left on the 'table' its taken from the merchant you are shopping at. If you are at a big box store sure but when going to local merchants its best for them if you use debit or cash. One could argue the merchant 'choose' to accept CC but in this day and age its more like extortion because the CC lobbyist were able to make it illegal to pass that charge onto the customer.

> the CC lobbyist were able to make it illegal to pass that charge onto the customer.

This is no longer a thing, there was a settlement with Visa/MC that removed this provision from their merchant contracts. You are now allowed to pass on transaction fees if you feel like it as a merchant.

It was also never illegal. It simply was part of the contract to do accept Visa/MC/Amex and they'd close your merchant account if you got caught doing it.

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