Sherwood News

Buy now, pay later giant Klarna is finally ready to file for IPO

BNPL players nearly collapsed postpandemic, but they are back, stronger and focused.

3/7/25 9:18AM

Buy now, pay later company Klarna is only days away from filing its long-awaited initial public offering. With aims to price the IPO in early April, the Stockholm-based fintech is targeting a valuation of more than $15 billion, per Bloomberg.

For what was once one of the world’s most valuable startups, hitting a $45.6 billion valuation at its peak, Klarna’s $15 billion target may seem modest. But after the market pulled back in 2022 and interest rates started rising, investors became increasingly cautious about tech startups that were losing money — unless they had some sort of AI angle, of course. Since then, the Swedish BNPL giant’s been slowly recovering, with its valuation rising to ~$14.6 billion last year.

Buy now, regret later

The rise and fall and rise again of Klarna’s valuation is essentially a microcosmic history of the entire BNPL space. By enabling users to split the cost of a purchase across interest-free installments, BNPL was hailed as a revolution, despite basically being, when all’s said and done, a rebranding of one of the most fundamental financial concepts: credit.

Faced with the pressure to stem its losses and become profitable, Klarna’s American rival Affirm has leaned more on interest-bearing lending, which made up 72% of its loans in 2024, a 33% year-over-year growth. Klarna itself even introduced a Klarna card, which it claims is different from a credit card, but the principals remain pretty similar — you can pay it off every month, or “choose to pay over 3 or 6 months with added interest.” Very credit card-y. The company’s also been busy striking new deals with key payment partners like Stripe and JPMorgan, while shedding businesses and staff to cut costs.

The initiatives for both Affirm and Klarna do seem to be making an impact on the bottom line: Affirm posted its first profit as a public company last month and Klarna almost broke even for the first time since 2019 in November.

Correction (March 7 2025): In an earlier version of this article, we incorrectly said that Affirm had stopped offering interest-free loans. This has been corrected.

Millie Giles21h

JM Smucker says it sold $1 billion worth of Uncrustables in FY2026

After years of booming sandwich sales, JM Smucker has finally earned a billion-dollar crust.

On Tuesday, the company reported results for fiscal year 2026, highlighting better-than-expected profits driven by higher prices for coffee and sweet baked goods. However, at another point on the earnings call, CEO Mark Smucker pointed to one particularly jammy figure: in line with previous forecasts, it managed to sell $1 billion worth of its (almost always) crustless sandwiches, Uncrustables, in the last year alone.

Max Knoblauch6/8/26

Paramount reportedly offers concessions to resolve multistate antitrust investigation

Paramount has reportedly offered up some concessions in an effort to prevent an antitrust lawsuit by California and about 10 other states, according to Bloomberg reporting on Monday.

Reuters first reported on the potential suit from a group of unnamed states last week, which could throw a wrench in Paramount’s plans to buy rival Warner Bros. Discovery in a Hollywood megamerger.

The list of concessions is unknown, though Bloomberg previously reported that Paramount is open to divesting some of its kids TV assets to appease EU regulators.

Late last month, reports said US regulators appeared likely to approve the $110 billion merger, following a meeting between Paramount CEO David Ellison and DOJ antitrust staffers.

Paramount Offers Concessions to Head Off State Antitrust Lawsuit

The list of concessions is unknown, though Bloomberg previously reported that Paramount is open to divesting some of its kids TV assets to appease EU regulators.

Late last month, reports said US regulators appeared likely to approve the $110 billion merger, following a meeting between Paramount CEO David Ellison and DOJ antitrust staffers.

$98B ⛽

Max Knoblauch6/8/26

The IATA released its latest financial outlook for the airline industry over the weekend, forecasting a $98 billion jump in the sector’s collective fuel bill. The world’s largest trade group representing airlines expects the oil spike to halve profits by 49% from last year to $23 billion.

The group also expects profit margins to halve year over year, falling from 2025’s 4.2% to 2%. Still, revenue is expected to climb to $1.17 trillion from $1.07 trillion.

A surge in the cost of jet fuel has rocked US and global airlines this year, leading Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, American Airlines, Southwest Airlines, JetBlue, and others to raise fares and ancillary charges like bag fees. Low-cost carriers, which operate on smaller margins, have been squeezed the hardest, resulting in Spirit’s shutdown.

“It’s a tough year for all airlines, especially those whose balance sheets had not yet recovered from COVID. And, of course, for those operating in the Gulf,” said IATA Director General Willie Walsh, who added that demand is holding up and about half of passengers expect to spend more on travel this year. “That bodes well for a strong northern summer peak season. The big unknown is how long travelers and shippers can tolerate the higher costs of connectivity.”

Hollywood Exteriors And Landmarks - 2025

1 year into the Switch 2, we might’ve seen the top of the console market

The Switch 2 launched on this day in 2025. Amid a rough year for consoles, Nintendo has logged a good one.

Max Knoblauch6/5/26

Max Knoblauch6/4/26

GM has reportedly rehired more than 100 former Cruise employees, 18 months after shuttering the robotaxi unit

GM has rehired more than 100 employees it let go early last year when it shuttered Cruise, its former robotaxi business, according to reporting by The Information.

The hiring spree, which also includes employees from Nvidia and Uber, is geared toward ramping up GM’s plans for personal-use self-driving vehicles and not robotaxis. The former had been the focus of Cruise, prior to GM shuttering it in 2024.

Reporting last fall revealed that GM was attempting to rehire some former Cruise employees, but the scope of that effort wasn’t clear. More than 1,000 employees were laid off when the automaker scrapped Cruise, which it invested $10 billion into.

Google’s Waymo, Cruise’s former chief rival, is now worth $126 billion after a $16 billion funding round earlier this year. The company says it’s serving 500,000 paid robotaxi rides per week in the US.