Klarna reported a total net operating income of 9.2 billion Swedish krona ($843.8 million) in the first six months of the year, which is a 21% increase from 7.5 billion krona in the same period in the preceding year. Unfortunately, the firm still incurred a net loss of 2.1 billion krona, a drop of 67% from 6.4 billion krona in the same six-month period last year. Klarna was able to record a profit in each month of the first half, which can be attributed to cutting expenses and increasing efficiency through the use of artificial intelligence.
Klarna, a Swedish buy-now-pay-later firm, saw a 67% decrease in losses in the first half of 2023, as cost-cutting measures enabled them to reach a net operating income of 9.2 billion Swedish krona (USD 843.5 million). The company was not able to record a half-year profit, but said that it had registered one month of profitability in the period, which exceeded even their internal goal of having profitable months in the quarters to come. CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski expressed delight with the company's success, calling it a "healthy" and "resilient" business model. Credit losses were down by 39%, and the company pointed to their AI customer services feature as a key factor in their ability to achieve profitability each month. As other fintechs have invested in AI, Klarna has been no exception - they recently updated their app with a personalized shopping feature comparable to TikTok's. The company has seen quite the market change over the past year, with their valuation dropping from USD 46 billion to USD 6.7 billion, attributing it to macroeconomic conditions such as high inflation and rising interest rates.
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