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Klarna has paused plans to launch a long-awaited $15bn New York IPO because of market turbulence in the wake of US President Donald Trump’s wide-ranging tariff announcements.
The Swedish “buy now, pay later” fintech was set to launch its so-called IPO roadshow with investors next week, but the sell-off in US stocks has put the plans on ice, said a person familiar with the plans.
Klarna filed for an IPO with the US Securities and Exchange Commission last month, and though it had not set a date for the float, typically companies price and start trading about a week after the roadshow starts.
A person familiar with Klarna’s strategy said the company was under no regulatory obligation to float within a specific timeframe and that the listing could happen in several weeks’ time.
Klarna’s decision to halt the IPO process was first reported by the Wall Street Journal. The planned listing was keenly anticipated by fintech investors who see it as a bellwether for the sector, which has been hit by a funding drought.
Investment in fintech has slowed from its 2021 peak as higher interest rates have deterred backers from making lofty investments into lossmaking start-ups.
Klarna became the poster child of the sector’s boom-and-bust cycle when its valuation crashed from $46bn in 2021 to $6.7bn just a year later.
The fintech said last month that it had returned to profitability in 2024, reporting a net profit of $21mn, up from a loss of $244mn the previous year. Revenues rose almost 24 per cent to $2.81bn.
Klarna provides short-term, interest-free loans that are generally offered to online consumers at checkout. It has in recent years sought to aggressively expand in the US and has signed partnerships with merchants including Walmart, Apple and DoorDash.
Global markets have lurched downwards since Trump announced sweeping tariffs on US trade partners this week. The losses were extended on Friday as China announced retaliatory measures and investors took fright at the prospect of a full-blown global trade war.
After Beijing’s announcement, the S&P 500 was down 4.2 per cent and the Europe-wide Stoxx 600 was trading 4.8 per cent lower.
Shares in Klarna’s US-listed rival Affirm have fallen more than 45 per cent since the start of the year.
Klarna declined to comment.
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