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

Stockholm’s Patent and Market Court ordered Alphabet’s Google to pay about 14.3 billion Swedish crowns, roughly $1.5 billion, to PriceRunner, turning a long-running shopping-search dispute into one of the largest competition damages awards ever issued by a Swedish court.

The case centers on Google’s comparison-shopping practices and on whether the company steered users toward its own service at the expense of rivals. PriceRunner filed suit in Sweden in 2022, and the dispute went to trial from October 20 to December 19, 2025. Ahead of the hearing, PriceRunner’s claim had swelled to about $8.3 billion, reflecting how far the legal fight had widened from its original filing.

Klarna, which bought PriceRunner in 2022, said the court ruled in PriceRunner’s favor and put the award at $1.97 billion including accrued interest. Klarna also said the amount remains subject to appeal, sharing arrangements and taxation, which means the eventual payout could be smaller or delayed. Google said it disagreed with the decision and would review its legal options, setting up another round of litigation rather than a quick resolution.

The Swedish judgment lands after years of European enforcement over Google Shopping. The European Commission fined Google €2.42 billion in 2017 for breaching EU antitrust rules and giving an illegal advantage to its own comparison-shopping service. The EU General Court largely upheld that decision in November 2021, and the Court of Justice of the European Union upheld the fine again in September 2024. Stockholm’s ruling adds a private damages award on top of that public enforcement history, showing that the competition fight is now producing direct payouts as well as regulatory penalties.

Investors immediately treated the decision as more than a narrow Swedish case. Google’s U.S. premarket shares edged lower, while Klarna’s shares rose, suggesting the market saw the ruling as meaningful for both companies. For Google, the order adds another costly front in Europe’s antitrust campaign. For PriceRunner and other price-comparison businesses, it offers a rare judicial finding that could encourage similar claims in other markets if rivals believe Google’s search dominance has distorted competition.