Swedish online financial services company Klarna claims that savings from the use of artificial intelligence have allowed the company to raise employee salaries by almost 60%, although this comes as the company has halved its workforce over the last three years.

The Guardian reports that Klarna, which offers consumers short-term credit services and e-tailers payment processing, says its headcount has dropped from 5,527 workers to 2,907 dating back to 2022. While Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski attributes most of that decline to natural attrition, Klarna has cut back on its use of outsourced workers for customer service, with AI now handling the work of 853 full-time staff, up from handling the work of 700 earlier in 2025. The larger tech sector has also seen a spate of job cuts in 2025 driven by the implementation of AI.

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In a call with analysts, Siemiatkowski said that Klarna has been able to increase its revenues this year by 108% despite operating costs remaining flat. Part of that has been helped by the fact that the company has had a hiring freeze in place for years, and has been able to raise existing salaries by not filling roles left open by departing employees. Average compensation for each Klarna employee now sits at $203,000, compared to $126,000 in 2022.