Swedish court awards Klarna PriceRunner $1.97B in antitrust damages from Google; largest Swedish competition judgment

A Swedish Patent and Market Court ruled on July 1 that Google unlawfully favored its own comparison-shopping service over independent rivals, awarding Klarna-owned PriceRunner $1.97 billion in damages and accrued interest. This marks the largest competition/antitrust judgment ever issued in Sweden. The court found Google had given its own price-comparison tool preferential placement in search results and applied preferential terms to its own service versus independent price-comparison platforms, causing lost revenue for PriceRunner and raising consumer costs.

The ruling builds on the European Commission's 2017 €2.42 billion penalty against Google for the same conduct—which the EU's top tribunal upheld in 2024. That regulatory confirmation cleared the way for PriceRunner's private damages claim to proceed in Swedish courts without having to re-establish the underlying breach. PriceRunner had originally sought roughly 80 billion Swedish kronor (approximately $8 billion); the court awarded 14.3 billion kronor in damages.

Critically, Klarna cautions that the award is subject to appeal by Google, and any amount ultimately recovered will be reduced by: (1) sharing arrangements with former PriceRunner shareholders; (2) the litigation funder that bankrolled the case; and (3) applicable taxes and interest. Klarna stock rose 6% on the news, but the company explicitly warned the judgment should not be interpreted as an indicator of likely recovery or settlement.

For architects evaluating platform competition and regulatory risk: this judgment signals that national courts across the EU will follow EU enforcement findings into damages proceedings, creating multi-billion-dollar exposure for tech platforms on conduct that regulators have already found unlawful. Google retains appeal rights, but the precedent strengthens incentives for similar claims against other big platforms.