Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski told CNBC that unfavorable share-based compensation rules in Europe could lead to Klarna losing talent to tech giants in the U.S. such as Google, Apple and Meta.
In a wide-ranging interview with CNBC this week, Siemiatkowski said that unfavorable rules in Europe on employee stock options — a common form of equity compensation tech firms offer to their staff — could lead to Klarna losing talent to technology giants in the U.S. such as Compared to a basket of its publicly-listed peers, Klarna offers only a fifth of its equity as a share of its revenue, according to a study obtained by CNBC which the company paid consulting firm Compensia to produce. However, the study also showed that Klarna's publicly-listed peers offer six times the amount of equity that it does.
"It's not that companies are not willing to pay that," Siemiatkowski said. "The biggest issue is the lack of predictability. If a staff cost is entirely associated with my stock price, and that has implications on my PNL ... it has cost implications for the company. It makes it impossible to plan." Asked whether he's worried Klarna employees may look to leave the company for an American tech firm instead, Siemiakowski said it's a "risk," particularly as the firm is expanding aggressively in the U.S.