A Swedish court has ordered Google to pay €1.7 billion to PriceRunner, a company owned by Klarna, for promoting its own price-comparison tool in search results at the expense of rivals.
The Patent and Market Court in Stockholm delivered its judgment, fining Google for 14.3 billion Swedish kronor plus interest.
PriceRunner was damaged by Google’s “unlawful favouring” of its own service over many years.
The award is one of the largest of its kind in Sweden.
Klarna welcomed the decision, though the figure falls well short of what PriceRunner had sought.
The company had claimed roughly 80 billion kronor (€7.2bn), meaning the court dismissed the majority of the claim while still siding with PriceRunner on the substance of the accusation.
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The case rests on findings that have already worked their way through the European legal system.
European Commission’s Previous Ruling
In 2017, the European Commission fined Google €2.42 billion after concluding that it had abused its dominance in online search by giving illegal advantage to its own comparison-shopping service.
This decision was later upheld by the European Union’s highest court in 2024.
PriceRunner, a Swedish site owned by Klarna, that lets shoppers compare prices across retailers, filed its damages claim in Stockholm in 2022.
Klarna acquired the business the same year, folding its product-comparison technology into the Klarna app, which offers fast consumer loans to its users.
Google’s Response
Google is reviewing and will consider its legal options.
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Google maintained that it made substantial changes to its search results in 2017 to comply with the Commission’s requirements.
Any damages award can be appealed to a higher court and the sum Klarna eventually recovers, if the decision stands, would be reduced by tax and by arrangements to share the proceeds with former PriceRunner shareholders and the outside funder that financed the litigation.
For Klarna, the judgment is nonetheless a symbolic and financial boost, with the firm’s shares rising 11.5% in pre-market trading on the news.
The decision adds to Google’s long-running antitrust troubles in Europe, where the Google Shopping case has become a landmark in the bloc’s efforts to rein in the market power of the largest technology platforms.
Klarna and Google will likely continue to be involved in these ongoing efforts, with the outcome of this case potentially influencing future decisions.