Google Ordered to Pay $1.5 Billion to Klarna’s PriceRunner in Swedish Antitrust Damages Case

Google faces a major antitrust penalty in Sweden today, July 1, 2026. Stockholm’s Patent and Market Court ordered Google to pay 14.3 billion Swedish crowns, roughly $1.5 billion, to PriceRunner. Klarna Group (NYSE: KLAR), which owns PriceRunner, had sought $8.3 billion in its original claim. The ruling caps a case built on a 2017 European Commission decision against Google’s shopping practices.

Google Ordered to Pay in Landmark Ruling

Google must pay $1.5 billion for illegally favoring its own shopping service, per court records released today. Klarna’s own press release cited a higher figure of $1.97 billion in damages.

PriceRunner alleged Google demoted competing comparison sites in search results for over a decade. That conduct, the court found, caused measurable commercial harm to PriceRunner’s business.

How This Case Unfolded

The trial ran from October 20 to December 19, 2025. PriceRunner’s damages claim reached 77 billion kronor, the largest ever sought in Sweden.

• Verdict first scheduled: April 15, 2026
• Rescheduled to: June 10, then June 26, 2026
• Final ruling delivered: July 1, 2026, at 13:00 CET

The court cited case complexity for each of the three delays before issuing its verdict today.

Legal Foundation Behind the Ruling

Liability was already settled before this trial began. The European Commission ruled in 2017 that Google abused its market dominance.

The Court of Justice of the European Union upheld that decision in 2024. This trial only addressed how much it owed in damages.

Alphabet’s Google was ordered to pay almost $2 billion to Klarna’s Pricerunner unit in a dispute over the search-engine giant’s abuse of power in the market for comparison shopping services https://t.co/TEetaLv7RT

— Bloomberg (@business) July 1, 2026

Comparing Google’s Penalty to Germany’s Idealo Case

Germany’s Idealo brought a similar case against Google last year. That court ordered to pay €465 million, about 5 billion kronor, in damages.

Sweden’s award now dwarfs the German outcome by nearly triple. PriceRunner’s lawyer called the sum among Europe’s largest antitrust judgments ever recorded.

What’s Next for Google and Klarna

Google retains the right to appeal today’s ruling before any payment becomes final. Klarna noted any recovery gets reduced by litigation funder and shareholder sharing arrangements.

Google’s parent, Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL), hasn’t issued a public statement on the verdict yet.

Disclaimer:

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