Markets by

Media Air Base, LLC

10 stocks to buy as long as the Strait of Hormuz is closed
ABOUT US
April typically showers stock investors with gains — but this year is no sure bet
Best Protection Against an AI Bubble? Index Funds
California Billionaires Are Spending Big in Costly Wealth-Tax Fight
China Is Taking On Mining Giants to Reorder a $190 Billion Market
COOKIE POLICY
Elon Musk’s SpaceX set to be worth $1 trillion with planned public listing
Employees could use 401(k)s to invest in crypto, private equity under Trump plan
Feeling stuck in a job you don’t want? You’re not alone. Here’s why
G.M. Reports Sharp Decline in Car Sales Amid War and High Prices
Goldman Sachs completes Innovator Capital acquisition, lifting ETF assets to $90 billion
How a shady tax preparer’s practices can lead to costly IRS trouble
Mark Zuckerberg’s 9 Trillion Dollar Valuation and Elon Musk’s Spending Spree
Merck nears $6 billion acquisition of Terns Pharma to boost cancer portfolio, FT reports
Meta executives could make billions under a blockbuster Elon-style pay package
Meta Offers Top Execs Stock Options for First Time Since IPO
Meta, YouTube found negligent in landmark social media addiction lawsuit
Mortgage rates hit three-year high as Trump vows more strikes
National Trust to prioritise ‘embracing traditions of different cultures’
New Limits on Investors and a Debt Downgrade Add to Private Credit Woes
OpenAI raises additional money to bring record funding round to $120 billion, CFO tells Cramer
PRIVACY POLICY
Private sector added 62,000 jobs in March, above expectations, ADP says
Stock Market News From March 24, 2026: Dow Slips. It Took a Hit From Tech.
Streaming and texting on the Moon: Nokia and NASA are taking 4G into space
Supreme Court Sides With Internet Provider in Copyright Fight Over Pirated Music
TERMS & CONDITIONS
The 10 days since 2000 that have made investors the most money
The Economy Is on the Edge: Potential Risks and Opportunities
The IEEPA tariff refund portal tops 26,000 registrations as CBP races to pay back $166 billion
They’re Rich but Not Famous—and They’re Suddenly Everywhere
Trump administration prepares up to 100% pharmaceutical tariffs on some imported drugs
Trump unveils national AI policy framework
Trump’s Iran Speech Shed Little Light On War. What Investors Still Want to Hear.
U.S. stocks are looking cheap for the first time in a year
Warning of global recession if oil price hits $150
Why Wall Street seems to keep believing Trump
‘Czech sphinx’ Kretinsky faces MPs over £3.6bn Royal Mail takeover

Capital One is buying startup Brex for $5.15 billion in credit card firm’s latest deal

Published Thu, Jan 22 20264:14 PM EST Updated Fri, Jan 23 20267:50 AM EST

Hugh Son @hugh_son

Key Points

Capital One is acquiring payments startup Brex for $5.15 billion, the latest splashy deal undertaken by CEO Richard Fairbank.
The bank disclosed the deal in its fourth-quarter earnings statement.
Brex was previously valued at $12.3 billion. The more than 50% decline in valuation shows the headwinds that even successful fintechs have encountered.

In this article

COF-17.77 (-7.56%)

Brex co-founders Pedro Franceschi and Henrique Dubugras.

Brex

Capital One said Thursday that it was acquiring payments startup Brex for $5.15 billion, the latest splashy deal undertaken by the bank’s CEO, Richard Fairbank.

The firm, which disclosed the acquisition in its fourth-quarter earnings statement, said the purchase is made up of 50% cash and 50% stock. Brex was previously valued at $12.3 billion.

Shares of the bank fell about 3%.

Under Fairbank, a rare founder-CEO of a major U.S. bank, Capital One acquired rival card firm Discover Financial last year for about $35 billion. That deal was Fairbank’s crowning achievement, giving the credit card lender access to one of the only payment networks of any scale.

“Since our founding, we set out to build a payments company at the frontier of the technology revolution,” Fairbank said in a release. “Acquiring Brex accelerates this journey, especially in the business payments marketplace.”

Fairbank said that Brex pioneered the melding of corporate cards, banking and spend management software: “They have taken the rarest of journeys for a fintech, building a vertically integrated platform from the bottom of the tech stack to the top.”

Still, the more than 50% decline in valuation for Brex from its 2023 level shows the headwinds that even successful fintech companies have encountered.

Brex is among a class of fintech firms that rose to prominence during a period of low interest rates; it was known initially as a startup that made loans to other startups via its cards.

But the company expanded beyond technology into other sectors and now services larger established firms and startups alike, including Robinhood, Zoom and Anthropic.

Capital One, which has offered business credit cards for decades, became increasingly convinced that it was Brex’s model that would be the winning offering, according to a person with knowledge of the lender’s strategy.

“We didn’t have to pursue this acquisition, our growth was incredibly strong,” Brex CEO Pedro Franceschi told CNBC in an interview.

Combining Brex’s technology with Capital One’s reach and resources would grow the startup’s scale faster than as a standalone firm, he said.

Trending Now

Alex Pretti killing: Minnesota CEOs, including UnitedHealth, Target, call for ‘immediate deescalation’
Harvard psychologist: Couples who are ‘truly close’ use 8 phrases when talking about each other
Carney says Canada not pursuing free trade deal with China as Trump threatens 100% tariffs
Another day another high: Gold surges past $5,100 as investors seek shelter from global risks
Shutdown odds grow as Senate Republicans won’t remove DHS funding after Pretti killing