Laurinska huset with its special tower on Södermalm in Stockholm.
Photo: ALEX LJUNGDAHL
Together with his wife Hanna, Klarna founder and billionaire Victor Jacobsson bought a luxurious apartment on Södermalm in Stockholm in 2017. The floor of 255 square meters is located in the so-called Laurinska house on Mariaberget with a view of Riddarfjärden. The historic house was built in the 1890s and, with its tower, is a well-known part of Stockholm’s cityscape.
In connection with the Jacobsson couple taking over the apartment, they signed an agreement that regulates what applies to renovation and rebuilding in the housing association in question. It says, among other things, that “the right-of-occupancy holder is liable to other members if renovation and remodeling work in his own apartment results in damage to other apartments through an obligation to immediately settle such damage directly with the member concerned”.
Shortly after taking office, the Jacobssons had extensive construction and renovation work carried out in their apartment. Among other things, the kitchen was moved to a completely new location in the apartment and the bathroom was moved to the kitchen’s original location. The rebuild must have cost somewhere between SEK 15 and 20 million.
Large water leak
However, problems arose during the work, in August 2018 a large water leak occurred when one of the newly laid pipes in Jacobsson’s apartment sprang a leak.
The water leak caused major damage to several neighbors, both apartments and property were destroyed. The worst affected were also unable to live in their apartments for nine months.
Klarna’s three founders Sebastian Siemiatkowski, Victor Jacobsson and Niklas Adalberth.
Photo: JOEY ABRAIT / DI TT NEWS AGENCY
In 2020, four neighbors chose to sue Victor and Hanna Jacobsson.
The legal process has become protracted. This is partly because Victor Jacobsson had a severe skiing accident in the Swiss Alps in the winter of 2022 and is now in a wheelchair. Something that Jonas Malmborg was the first to tell in the book “Den stora kreditfesten – historien om Klarna”, which was recently published.
Jacobsson’s health meant that the main negotiations were postponed for a year and a half.
Requires SEK 214,293
The money the neighbors are disputing with the Jacobssons are the costs that have not been covered by the insurance.
Documents in the case show that in one of the cases it is about SEK 200,000. The renovation of the apartment of one of the affected neighbors cost SEK 821,453. The insurance covered SEK 607,250 of that cost, and the neighbor is now demanding SEK 214,293 from the Jacobssons, and that they cover the legal costs.
The Jacobssons, in turn, oppose the lawsuit.
Located abroad
The trial began the other week and continues for three days in the Stockholm District Court. However, without Victor and Hanna Jacobsson on site, they are abroad and have participated on link instead.
According to information to Expressen, they are in Florida where they own a larger house. Since the skiing accident, the family has spent a lot of time in the United States.
Jacobsson’s lawyer in the case, Ola Thored, does not want to comment on the ongoing legal process.
– I have no comments at all, he says.
Advocate Ola Thored.
Photo: SVEN LINDWALL
The neighbours’ representative, lawyer Staffan Myrdal, does not want to say anything about the dispute either.
Good for over 30 billion
It was in 2005 that the three economics students Victor Jacobsson, Sebastian Siemiatkowski and Niklas Adalberth founded Klarna, or Kreditor as the company was initially called.
Siemiatkowski remains in Klarna as CEO, while Adalberth and Jacobsson have left the company.
But Victor Jacobsson, who left Klarna in 2012, and four years later also resigned from the board, has continued to be one of the largest shareholders in the company.
2022 stated Today’s Industry that Jacobsson’s share of Klarna was 7.9 percent, which was valued at approximately SEK 30.5 billion. In addition to that, his share portfolio was stated to be valued at SEK 650 million in the same year.
Victor and Hanna Jacobsson sold their apartment in Laurinska huset a year ago. A number of famous names live in the property, including Eva Dahlgren and Efva Attling, as well as the singer Robyn.
