Google Ordered To Pay PriceRunner €1.3 Billion

Sweden's Patent and Market Court in Stockholm ordered Google to pay 14.3 billion kronor (about €1.3 billion) to Klarna's PriceRunner unit, ruling the tech giant illegally favored its own shopping service in search results.

What the Stockholm Court Found

Judges concluded that PriceRunner, the Swedish price comparison site Klarna owns, suffered real financial harm because Google gave preferential treatment to its own comparison tool over many years. The ruling described this as "unlawful favouring" that damaged PriceRunner's business over time.

The award ranks among the largest of its kind ever issued in Sweden, though it comes in far below what PriceRunner initially sought. The company had asked for roughly 80 billion kronor (around €7.2 billion), so the court sided with PriceRunner on the underlying claim while rejecting most of the requested payout.

A Case Built on Earlier EU Findings

The Stockholm judgment leans on groundwork already laid at the European level. Back in 2017, the European Commission fined Google €2.42 billion for abusing its dominant position in online search by boosting its own comparison shopping service above competitors. The European Union's top court upheld that finding in 2024.

PriceRunner brought its damages case in Stockholm in 2022, arguing that Google's search practices had pushed it down in rankings and cost it business across more than ten years. Klarna bought PriceRunner that same year and has since built its comparison technology into the main Klarna app.

Google Signals It Will Push Back

Google has not accepted the ruling quietly. The company opposed the lawsuit from the start and told reporters at the trial's opening that it disagreed strongly with the claim. Its defense centers on changes made to search results in 2017, which it says brought the platform into line with what the European Commission had demanded.

An appeal to a higher court is expected, and any payout Klarna eventually collects would shrink after taxes and after splitting proceeds with former PriceRunner shareholders and the outside litigation funder that backed the case.

Market Reaction and What It Means for Klarna

Klarna values the judgment, including interest, at close to $1.97 billion (about €1.7 billion), and told investors the outcome was welcome even at a fraction of the original claim. Shares in the company jumped 11.5% in premarket trading following the news.

Dan Greaves, Klarna's head of communications and policy, said the decision supports a fairer and more competitive environment for how consumers compare products and prices. The case adds another chapter to Google's extended antitrust history in Europe, where the original Google Shopping decision remains a reference point in regulators' efforts to check the power of major technology platforms.