Klarna’s AI Layoffs, Hiring Freeze and ‘Ghost Jobs’ Cast Shadow Over April IPO

• Swedish buy-now-pay-later firm Klarna is expected to file for a U.S. IPO with a target value of over $15 billion.
• The news comes as the company has come under fire for allegations of using “ghost jobs.”
• Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski recently claimed AI “can already do all of the jobs that we as humans do.”

Klarna is gearing up to raise at least $1 billion in a U.S. initial public offering (IPO), Bloomberg reported , citing sources familiar with the matter.

The buy-now-pay-later firm is expected to price the IPO at the beginning of April, with a target valuation of over $15 billion.

However, with concerns regarding AI layoffs, “ghost jobs,” and allegations of leaving employees in limbo, the company’s actions in the lead-up to the IPO have been brought into question.

Klarna IPO

Klarna, known mainly for its buy-now-pay-later interest-free loans, has amassed over 85 million customers worldwide.

The firm filed for an IPO with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in November, with the company working with around 15 leading banks on the offering.

The company’s valuation has fluctuated widely over the past few years, reaching a peak of $45.6 billion in 2021.

However, in 2022, Klarna’s valuation dramatically fell t o $6.7 billion.

In preparation for its IPO, the company has heavily invested in artificial intelligence and even confirmed it will pursue crypto.

“Ok. I give up. Klarna and me will embrace crypto,” CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski wrote on X.

In 2024, the firm was valued at $14.6 billion based on Chrysalis Investments estimates, Bloomberg reported .

Klarna’s AI Layoffs

In December 2024, Siemiatkowski said Klarna’s hiring freeze was due to the company’s increased implementation of generative AI.

“We stopped hiring about a year ago. We were 4,500, now we’re 3,500,” Siemiatkowski told Bloomberg TV.

“We have a natural attrition, as [does] every tech company. People stay about 5 years — so 20% leave every year — and by not hiring, we’re simply shrinking.”

Siemiatkowski said he believed that AI could already do the jobs that humans can do, further highlighting the company’s shift to AI.

“I am of the opinion that AI can already do all of the jobs that we as humans do,” said Siemiatkowski.

“We’re gonna give some of the improvements [from] the efficiency that AI provides by increasing the pace at which the salaries of our employees increases,” he added.

“Ghost Jobs” Advertised

Klarna has come under fire for continuing to advertise open positions despite Siemiatkowski claiming the firm had frozen hiring.

As of the time of reporting, there are 16 open positions on Klarna’s website.

In December 2024, Klarna’s global press lead, John Craske, told TechCrunch that the company was “not actively recruiting to expand the workforce but only backfilling some essential roles, predominantly engineering.”

“When you look at it historically, we were hiring between one to one and a half thousand people a year from 2019 to 2022,” he said.

However, some have referenced the tactic as “ghost jobs.”

Dr. Guido DeMedici, CEO of Samarium Group, wrote on LinkedIn that ghost jobs were “demoralizing and disillusioning job seekers.”

“Posting a mirage of a vacancy allows a company to project success and hint at growth at the expense of people’s time, aspirations and emotional energy,” he wrote. “Worse, firms engaged in this kind of tactic can surreptitiously signal to current employees that they are imminently replaceable.”

Klarna Employees in Limbo

Internal employees have also been speaking out against the Swedish fintech firm, feeling pushed out of the company ahead of its impending IPO.

Hundreds of employees have lost their jobs at Klarna and are being placed into the company’s talent pool, Business Insider reported . Here, they are kept on payroll while they search for new jobs within the company.

However, an anonymous former employee talking to Business Insider said the talent pool feels like “a sneaky way of carrying out quiet layoffs.”

Ten Klarna employees, speaking anonymously, told the publication that they believed the talent pool was part of a strategy to reduce the firm’s headcount.

In January 2025, Siemiatkowski said the company had been able to “assign people to tons of new stuff and shrink at the same time.”

In a post on X , the CEO said, “AI, automation, etc., is opening up more people to work on new things internally than the number of people leaving us.”