Klarna Savagely Stole Walmart from Affirm… Days Before Its IPO

Just two days after filing for what could be one of the biggest IPOs of 2025, Klarna, the Swedish buy-now-pay-later company locked down a historic deal with Walmart. Meaning that klarna will now be the exclusive provider of installment loans for the world’s largest retailer, kicking Affirm to the curb like a stained cloth recliner (pretty big deal considering Walmart makes over $600 billion a year).

Affirm had been Walmart’s BNPL partner since 2019, a deal they called one of their “crown jewels.” But apparently, Walmart disagreed and decided to kick Affirm in their “family jewels.” Instead of renewing Affirm’s contract, Walmart’s fintech arm OnePay decided Klarna was the better date to the buy now, pay later dance.

Now, Klarna will be handling all installment loans for Walmart shoppers (both in-store and online) through OnePay, Walmart’s majority-owned fintech startup. OnePay will manage the app experience, but Klarna gets to do the underwriting, approving loans that stretch from three months to 36 months with interest rates ranging from 10% to 36% (considering the average clientele you see when you walk into a small town Walmart, this business model should be illegal).

While the timing is tough for Affirm... Klarna’s IPO is right around the corner, and locking in Walmart as a key partner just made its business look a whole lot stronger.

Wall Street took one look at this news and immediately started rage-selling Affirm’s stock. Shares of Affirm are down 11% and we’re just getting started for the day, proving once again that losing Walmart as a partner is worse than forgetting your anniversary.

Affirm, run by PayPal co-founder Max Levchin, has already had it’s ups and downs since its 2021 IPO. After a huge pandemic rally, its stock has been bouncing up and down so fast you can barely keep up, surging and falling with market volatility. Before Klarna’s power move, Affirm’s stock was already down 18% year-to-date. When the bell closes today, don’t be surprised to see it down 30-40%.

To make matters worse, Walmart was one of Affirm’s biggest volume drivers. Losing that pipeline of transactions could force Affirm to get even more aggressive with its remaining partners, including Amazon, Shopify, and Target. But none of them have the foot traffic or transaction volume of Walmart. This is a massive hit.

You’e got to think that Klarna’s CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski is somewhere in Stockholm right now smiling ear to ear. The company just won the partnership lottery right before its public debut.

Klarna’s private valuation has been crazy over the last few years. Back in 2021, it was sitting at a $46 billion valuation, only to crash 85% in 2022 as the broader fintech bubble popped. Now, after returning to profitability last year and securing this Walmart deal, Klarna’s valuation has clawed its way back up to around $15 billion… roughly in line with Affirm’s market cap.

In its recent IPO filing, Klarna reported $2.81 billion in revenue for 2024, a 24% jump from the previous year, with $21 million in net income (a major improvement from a $244 million loss in 2023).

For Klarna, this Walmart partnership could be a major catalyst to a blockbuster IPO. Wall Street has been skeptical of fintech firms after the bloodbath of 2022, but Klarna is making a serious case for itself.

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Stock.News has positions in Amazon.