United States: Artificial intelligence start-up Perplexity has made an unexpected $34.5 billion (£25.6 billion) takeover offer for Google’s Chrome browser, in a move it claims would benefit the public by shifting the platform to an independent operator focused on user safety.
In a letter to Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, Perplexity said it would preserve Chrome’s default search setting for Google while allowing users to adjust preferences, and would continue support for Chromium, the open-source platform that powers Chrome and other browsers like Microsoft Edge and Opera.
The proposal comes despite no indication that Google plans to sell Chrome, which boasts more than three billion users worldwide. The company is already under intense antitrust scrutiny in the US, with a federal judge expected to rule this month on whether it must break up its search business, a move Google has vowed to appeal, calling the idea of spinning off Chrome ‘unprecedented’ and potentially harmful to consumers.
Perplexity, valued at around $18 billion in July, has not disclosed how it would finance the deal. Some industry experts have dismissed the bid as unrealistic. Technology investor Heath Ahrens described it as a stunt far below Chrome’s true worth, suggesting a realistic offer could be three times higher if backed by figures like Sam Altman or Elon Musk. Tomasz Tunguz of Theory Ventures also estimated Chrome’s value could be ten times greater than Perplexity’s bid.
The AI start-up, known for its generative AI app and recently launched AI-powered browser Comet, previously made headlines with an offer to buy TikTok’s US arm. It has also reportedly attracted interest from tech giants including Apple and Meta.
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