SwedenBuy Now Pay Later Companies Klarna It plans to cut its workforce by nearly half and replace it with artificial intelligence in preparation for its IPO.
Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski hailed the benefits of AI in Klarna's second-quarter results released on Tuesday, which saw the company's net loss narrow to 10 million Swedish crowns in the quarter from 854 million crowns a year ago.
The Swedish fintech company has reduced its headcount from 5,000 to 3,800 in the past year. Siemiatkowski told the Financial Times:Headcount could be reduced further to 2,000 in the coming years as Klarna uses AI for tasks such as customer service and marketing.
"We can do more with fewer people," Siemiatkowski said. "Internally, our goal is 2,000 people. But we don't want to set a specific deadline for that."
Klarna has implemented a hiring freeze, with the exception of engineers, and is reducing its workforce through attrition rather than layoffs.Even if AI will lead to job losses, this is something the government needs to worry about.
Siemiatkowski said that due to layoffs and cost reduction through artificial intelligence, Klarna's average annual income per employee has increased from about $400,000 a year ago to $700,000 now (currently about 4.968 million yuan).
The Swedish group, once hailed as the darling of Europe's tech world, was valued at $46 billion in 2021, but its valuation fell to $6.7 billion a year later due to rising interest rates and falling share prices. Klarna's bankers and investors believe the company may be able to achieve a valuation of $15 billion to $20 billion when it goes public.