Dozens of Klarna employees have become millionaires overnight after the Swedish «buy now, pay later» firm was valued at $17bn (£15bn) in its Wall Street debut.
Shares were priced at $40 ahead of Wednesday’s listing but jumped as much as 30% to $52 before closing at $45.82. More than 40 current and former staff now hold stakes worth over $1m, though most are locked in for 180 days.
Co-founder Victor Jacobsson, who left Klarna in 2012, is cashing in 3.5% of his $1.6bn holding. Chief product officer David Fock will sell $12m of stock, while operations chief Camilla Giesecke will sell $6.5m. Chief executive Sebastian Siemiatkowski, whose 6.8% stake is worth $1.3bn, is not selling.
Major backers including Mubadala, BlackRock, Silver Lake, Danish billionaire Anders Holch Povlsen and Sequoia are also set to benefit from the float.
Klarna’s choice of New York over London dealt another blow to the UK’s struggling stock market. Steven Fine, CEO of Peel Hunt, said Britain must reform pension fund rules, tax policy and capital access to keep pace with the US:
«If we brought back Entrepreneurs’ Relief but only if you IPO, it would create quite a stir and make every founder in the UK and Europe sit up and take notice.»
Founded in 2005, Klarna pioneered short-term installment loans for online shopping but has faced criticism for encouraging debt on everyday purchases such as clothes, cosmetics and concert tickets.
Siemiatkowski dismissed the claims, telling investors:
«We are bringing competition to a market which has extracted excess profits out of customers using tactics which are not in the customers’ best interests.»
The UK’s £13bn «buy now, pay later» sector is due to come under Financial Conduct Authority oversight in July 2026.
Kursiv Uzbekistan also reports that Silicon Valley entrepreneurs have stepped forward following the killing of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska, whose death shocked the nation.
