Antitrust case: Swedish court orders Google to pay Klarna $1.97bn

Klarna Group plc today announces that the court has ruled in Pricerunner’s favor, awarding $1.97 billion in damages and accrued interest in an antitrust case brought by PriceRunner against Google. The award compensates for lost revenue caused by Google’s preferential treatment of its own comparison-shopping service over independent price-comparison services, conduct that also drives up costs for consumers.

Initially seeking around $8.3 billion in damages for lost revenue, PriceRunner alleged that Google „systematically demoted competing price comparison services in its search results while favouring its own Google Shopping product, causing sustained and quantifiable commercial damage to PriceRunner over more than a decade”.

„When markets work well, everyone benefits. Consumers get higher quality at lower cost, companies stay focused on serving customers rather than defending position, and society is better off for it. This ruling supports a healthier, more competitive market for the way people compare products and services — and that is good for everyone who shops,” said Dan Greaves, Head of Communications and Policy, Klarna. 

Klarna acquired PriceRunner in 2022 to add rich product discovery, price comparisons, and product reviews to the Klarna app, and drive high-intent traffic to retail partners. Klarna has since expanded the PriceRunner-powered Search & Compare feature to 13 markets, and the underlying database now covers 100 million+ products and 500 million+ merchant listings. The database is the engine behind Klarna’s recently-launched Shopping Search app in ChatGPT and a key plank in Klarna’s agentic commerce strategy. 

Important Notice

Any award remains subject to appeal by Google. Any amount Klarna ultimately receives would also be reduced by sharing arrangements with former PriceRunner shareholders and Klarna’s litigation funder, and by applicable taxation. The value of the claim should not be taken as an indication of any likely recovery or future settlement. This announcement does not constitute a profit forecast.