Affirm shares drop as Klarna unveils partnership with Walmart

Klarna (KLAR), the AI-powered payments and commerce network, announced that it will be partnering with consumer finance app OnePay to exclusively offer installment loans for purchases at Walmart (WMT) in the United States. The partnership will give Walmart’s millions of weekly U.S. customers and members flexible payment options for thousands of items both online and in stores – and will be directly integrated inside Walmart at checkout this year, Klarna said in a statement. “This is a game changer,” said Sebastian Siemiatkowski, Co-founder and CEO, Klarna. “Millions of people in the U.S. shop at Walmart every day – and now they can shop smarter with OnePay installment loans powered by Klarna. OnePay choosing Klarna as their exclusive installment loans partner at Walmart in the U.S. is a huge vote of confidence as we pursue our goal of being available everywhere for everything. We look forward to helping redefine checkout at the world’s largest retailer – both online and in stores.” Shares of buy now, pay later lender Affirm (AFRM), which previously held the partnership, are down 10% in premarket trading following the news.