Klarna Replaces Affirm as Walmart BNPL Partner in the U.S.

Group 1 - Affirm Holdings, Inc. (AFRM) shares fell 4.2% following Klarna's announcement as the exclusive provider of buy now, pay later (BNPL) loans for Walmart Inc. (WMT) in the U.S. this year [1] - Klarna is preparing for an IPO, aiming to raise over $1 billion at a valuation exceeding$15 billion [1] - Klarna's BNPL services will be integrated with OnePay, a Walmart-backed fintech firm, which is already available at Walmart's checkouts [2][3] Group 2 - Affirm is currently a BNPL partner for Walmart, but will lose exclusivity to Klarna, which accounted for approximately 5% of Affirm's GMV and 2% of its adjusted operating income in the second half of last year [4] - Despite the loss of the Walmart partnership, Affirm's BNPL services will still be available through direct-to-consumer channels [4] - Over the past year, Affirm's shares have increased by 40.2%, outperforming the industry growth of 8.6% [5]