Brex and Capital One made a splash in the fintech and banking pool (just picture a bunch of suits relaxing on floaties at the Kalahari) late last month when they announced Capital One would acquire the corporate-spend platform for $5.15 billion. The transaction is expected to close in mid-2026.

Before the two sides started negotiations, though, Brex was “definitely not actively looking to be acquired,” CFO Erica Dorfman told CFO Brew. Once Brex cofounder Pedro Franceschi and Capital One founder and CEO Richard Fairbank got to talking, combining forces just made sense, Dorfman said.

On Capital One’s January 22 earnings call, Fairbank said, “Acquiring Brex accelerates a journey we’ve been on since our founding days, the quest to build a banking and payments company that’s positioned to win where the world is going.” For Brex, this sudden opportunity meant there was much work to do. Dorfman walked us through what working on the deal has been like for her and the finance team.

Calling an audible. Before the deal, Brex was looking to either continue growing as a private company or possibly pursue an IPO. “Those are all great paths, but the opportunity with Capital One presents something really different,” Dorfman said. That difference is a $950 million investment into Brex from Capital One, “making Brex the most well-funded player in our space,” Franceschi wrote in a recent blog post.

Keep reading.—AZ

In 2025, many companies blunted the impact of tariffs with mitigation strategies. Unfortunately, tariff uncertainty is still going to be a major factor to contend with in 2026—and those same mitigation strategies may expose companies to federal scrutiny.

“We’re dealing with a fragmented, volatile, and highly unpredictable trading environment heading into 2026,” Mark Truchan, a partner in PwC’s customs and international trade practice, told reporters at the Big Four firm’s Tax Policy Outlook Media Breakfast. “And the biggest challenge isn’t just the tariffs themselves; it’s the uncertainty, and it’s making it really difficult for companies to effectively plan beyond the short term in this environment.”

SCOTUS won’t bring clarity: The Supreme Court may rule on the legality of the second Trump administration’s International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) tariffs as soon as February 20. But don’t expect that to provide much clarity. The court may decide to uphold all the IEEPA tariffs, limit them, strike them all down, or uphold some and not others, and companies should plan for all those scenarios, PwC’s Washington National Tax Services group wrote in its 2026 Tax Policy Outlook.

Keep reading.—CV

Are generational clashes the biggest problem your company isn’t paying attention to? While older folks have had to adapt to a rapidly changing tech space over the last couple of decades, a younger cohort has been born into it.

A study from newly formed revenue orchestration company Clari + Salesloft is diving into the topic—specifically AI usage—and finding the generational divide comes at a pretty penny. According to the report, companies are on average losing $56 billion in productivity annually due to growing generational divides based on AI usage.

The survey shows that 85% of respondents using AI-enabled tools think the technology is improving their performance; however, 64% say they aren’t using the full capabilities available to them—and that number jumps to 75% among the baby boomers surveyed.

“Employees in revenue-generating roles should be one of the biggest beneficiaries of AI, but right now it’s becoming a divider instead of a multiplier,” Clari + Salesloft CEO Steve Cox said in a statement. “When AI is implemented intentionally, it aligns how work gets done and raises the floor for everyone, not just the early adopters.”

Keep reading in Revenue Brew.—LI

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