BNPL giant Klarna puts IPO on ice as tariff jitters and market sell-off steal the spotlight
Buy now, IPO later.
Klarna’s hitting pause on its IPO as sweeping tariffs rattle global markets.
The Swedish fintech giant, which filed to list on the NYSE earlier this year, was set to kick off its investor roadshow on Monday, but recent turbulence has made the timing less than ideal. Klarna had reportedly been eyeing a $15 billion valuation — more than double its $6.7 billion value in 2022. Shares of rival Affirm dropped 12% on Friday as sentiment soured across the BNPL space. The postponement makes a lot of sense: it’s tough to gauge investor interest in an IPO and price it correctly when equities are swinging as wildly as they are.
Traditional lenders are feeling the heat, too. Bank stocks continued to slide Friday, with Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and Wells Fargo falling, among others. Regional banks, which tend to be more sensitive to credit risk and deposit costs, were hit even harder. The KBW Regional Bank Index tumbled nearly 10% on Thursday — its worst day since the March 2023 collapse of Silicon Valley Bank.
While lenders may not be directly exposed to tariffs, their business hinges on the health of the economy. When fears of a slowdown rise, so do concerns about loan demand, consumer spending, and credit quality. Some cracks are already showing: auto loan delinquencies are at their highest in decades, and credit card delinquencies are at a 13-year high. Dealmaking, meanwhile, has had its worst start to a year in a decade.
