Swedish court orders Google to pay $1.5 billion to Klarna in antitrust damages

STOCKHOLM: A Swedish court on Wednesday ordered Alphabet’s Google to pay about $1.5 billion in damages to PriceRunner, the price comparison business owned by payments platform Klarna, for favouring its own shopping service in search results.

The award, equivalent to around 14.3 billion Swedish crowns, comes amid growing scrutiny of U.S. Big Tech companies in Europe. It is the largest award by a Swedish court in a competition case, though well below ‌the 78 billion ⁠crowns PriceRunner ⁠had sought, including accrued interest.