Dive Brief:

• Google must pay nearly $2 billion to a Swedish firm owned by buy now, pay later provider Klarna for antitrust violations in the online price-comparison market, a Swedish court ruled Wednesday.
• Stockholm-based PriceRunner, which Klarna acquired in 2022, argued that Alphabet’s Google had abused its dominant position in online search to advantage its own price-comparison services for more than a decade, Bloomberg News and The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.
• Google doesn’t agree with the decision, which it is reviewing, and will consider its legal options, a company spokesperson said Wednesday in an emailed statement. The Patent and Market Court ruling is subject to appeal.

Dive Insight:

The $1.97 billion award “supports a healthier, more competitive market for the way people compare products and services — and that is good for everyone who shops,” Dan Greaves, Klarna’s head of communications and policy, said in a Wednesday press release.

London-based Klarna, which grew up in Stockholm, uses PriceRunner’s technology for product discovery and reviews, and to offer shoppers price comparisons in 12 European markets and the U.S. 

Klarna said in its press release that 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.”

Klarna told investors that any damages it ultimately collects would be “reduced by sharing arrangements with former PriceRunner shareholders and Klarna's litigation funder, and by applicable taxation.” The claim’s value “should not be taken as an indication of any likely recovery or future settlement,” it added.

PriceRunner filed its lawsuit in 2022, about three months after Google lost an appeal of a €2.42 billion ($2.7 billion) antitrust fine the European Union imposed. That penalty, assessed in 2017, came after the EU found that Google had unfairly advantaged its shopping comparison tools over smaller European rivals, Reuters reported.

Changes that Google made to its shopping advertising platform in 2017 are working and support “hundreds of comparison shopping services” for about 1,500 websites across Europe,” the spokesperson said.

PriceRunner had sought about 78 billion Swedish kroner ($8 billion) from Google as part of its lawsuit, according to media reports.