Prisjakt, one of Sweden’s best-known price comparison sites and one of the bigger startups to emerge from the region, that was later acquired by Schibsted, and then eEquity, is set to list on Nasdaq First North. But its high-profile lawsuit against Google, worth approximately €1.95 billion (SEK 21.4 billion), will largely bypass the company’s future public shareholders, according to the prospectus published with the IPO announcement.
The IPO values Prisjakt at approximately €61 million (SEK 675 million), based on a share price of SEK 31. That is nearly 80% lower than the valuation of more than SEK 3 billion (around €273 million) that was discussed just in February, when the company first aimed for a spring listing that was postponed in March amid market turbulence.
The Google Lawsuit
On October 9, Prisjakt filed a lawsuit against Google with the Swedish Patent and Market Court, claiming SEK 21.4 billion (approximately €1.95 billion) in damages. The company argues that Google abused its dominant position by favoring its own price comparison service in search results – both during the period covered by the EU Commission’s 2017 Google Shopping decision and afterwards. The lawsuit follows a landmark ruling in July, when the same court ordered Google to pay approximately SEK 14.3 billion (about €1.3 billion) to competitor Pricerunner, the largest award ever in a Swedish competition case. Pricerunner had claimed SEK 77 billion (around €7 billion), and Google has appealed both that ruling and rejects Prisjakt’s claims, calling them “completely unreasonable,” according to TT.
Where the Billions Would Go
Now, Rapidus made an overview of where the money would go, and talked to the CEO Peter Greberg. According to the prospectus, if the full claim is awarded, the distribution would look roughly like this:
- Around 50%, SEK 10.7 billion (approximately €975 million), goes to Norwegian Vend Marketplaces (formerly Schibsted), Prisjakt’s former owner. Vend retained the right to part of a future damages award when it sold the company to private equity firm eEquity for approximately SEK 483 million (around €44 million) in 2025.
- The external litigation financier, which funds the case and is not named, first recovers its costs plus a return, then shares in the remainder – roughly SEK 5 billion (around €455 million) if the full claim is awarded.
- Of the roughly 25% remaining for the Prisjakt group, 80% goes to new preference shares created just before the lawsuit was filed. These are held only by current owners and management – eEquity holds about 36% – and are not part of the listing.
- Only about 5% of the gross amount, roughly SEK 1.1 billion (approximately €100 million) before tax, would remain with the listed company and its common shareholders.
That would still be nearly 1.6 times the company’s entire IPO valuation, and Peter Greberg defends the structure.
“It is true that the majority of any damages will not go to common shareholders. At the same time, one can discuss what is meant by ‘to any greater extent,’ considering the significant amounts the lawsuit covers. Even the portion going to common shareholders could be substantial, depending on the outcome. Prisjakt is valued based on its operations, profitability, and long-term growth prospects, while shareholders still share in any damages award,”
Peter Greberg told Rapidus,
If Prisjakt wins a similar proportion of its claim as Pricerunner did, just under a fifth, the award would land at around SEK 4 billion (approximately €365 million), with common shareholders’ share shrinking to a couple of hundred million kronor.
A final ruling in either case is realistically several years away, as both Pricerunner and Google have appealed the July verdict, which is expected to be precedent-setting. For now, investors in the October 23 listing are essentially buying Prisjakt’s core business, not its billions in potential Google damages.
