Perplexity AI mentioned it has made a $34.5 billion unsolicited all-cash supply for Alphabet’s Chrome browser, a low however daring bid that would wish financing properly above the startup’s personal valuation.
Run by Aravind Srinivas, Perplexity is not any stranger to headline-grabbing presents – it made the same one for TikTok U.S. in January, providing to merge with the favored short-video app to resolve U.S. considerations about TikTok’s Chinese possession.
Buying Chrome would enable the startup to faucet the browser’s greater than three billion customers for an edge within the AI search race as regulatory strain threatens Google’s grip on the trade.
Google didn’t instantly reply to a Reuters request for remark. The firm has not provided Chrome for sale and plans to attraction a U.S. court docket ruling final 12 months that discovered it held an illegal monopoly in on-line search. The Justice Department has sought a Chrome divestiture as a part of the case’s treatments.
Perplexity didn’t disclose on Tuesday (August 12, 2025) the way it plans to fund the supply. The three-year-old firm has raised round $1 billion in funding so removed from traders together with Nvidia and Japan’s SoftBank. It was final valued at $14 billion.
Multiple funds have provided to finance the deal in full, an individual aware of the matter mentioned, with out naming the funds.
As a brand new era of customers turns to chatbots reminiscent of ChatGPT and Perplexity for solutions, internet browsers are regaining prominence as very important gateways to go looking site visitors and prized consumer knowledge, making them central to Big Tech’s AI ambitions.
Perplexity already has an AI browser, Comet, that may carry out sure duties on a consumer’s behalf and buying Chrome would give it the heft to higher compete in opposition to greater rivals reminiscent of OpenAI. The ChatGPT father or mother has additionally expressed curiosity in shopping for Chrome and is working by itself AI browser.
Perplexity’s bid pledges to maintain the underlying browser code known as Chromium open supply, make investments $3 billion over two years and make no adjustments to Chrome’s default search engine, in response to a time period sheet seen by Reuters.
The firm mentioned the supply, with no fairness part, would protect consumer selection and ease future competitors considerations.
Analysts have mentioned Google could be unlikely to promote Chrome and would probably interact in a protracted authorized combat to stop that end result, given it’s essential to the corporate’s AI push because it rolls out options together with AI-generated search summaries, often known as Overviews, to assist defend its search market share.
A federal choose is predicted to problem a ruling on treatments within the Google search antitrust case someday this month.
Perplexity’s bid can be under the at the very least $50 billion worth that rival search engine DuckDuckGo’s CEO, Gabriel Weinberg, instructed Chrome could command if Google was compelled to promote it.
Besides OpenAI and Perplexity, Yahoo and private-equity agency Apollo Global Management have additionally expressed curiosity in Chrome.
