Perplexity tables $34.5bn bid for Google Chrome

The offer is nearly twice Perplexity's own $18bn valuation

Perplexity, the fast-growing AI search start-up, has made an unsolicited $34.5 billion cash offer to acquire Google's Chrome browser.

In a letter sent Tuesday to Alphabet chief executive Sundar Pichai, Perplexity co-founder Aravind Srinivas described the bid as "designed to satisfy an antitrust remedy … by placing Chrome with a capable, independent operator."

The AI company, which counts SoftBank, Nvidia, and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos among its backers, claimed that "multiple large [venture capital] funds" had agreed to fully finance the deal, though it declined to name them.

The offer is nearly twice Perplexity's own $18 billion valuation and follows its headline-making but unsuccessful $50 billion bid earlier this year for TikTok.

Google has shown no public interest in selling Chrome, but the possibility has emerged as part of the ongoing US Department of Justice antitrust case against the tech giant.

Last year, US District Judge Amit Mehta ruled after a 10-week bench trial that Google unlawfully monopolised the online search market. He is expected to decide on remedies before the end of the month.

Among the options reportedly under consideration is a forced divestiture of Chrome, which commands an estimated 67.9% global browser market share, roughly 3.8 billion users, making it one of the most powerful distribution channels on the internet.

The prospect has attracted interest from rivals including OpenAI, whose head of product Nick Turley testified during the trial that the ChatGPT maker would consider buying Chrome.

Alphabet could also be ordered to share more data with competitors to help them build credible alternatives to Google Search, which still processes nearly 90% of online queries.

However, Google has vowed to appeal against any such remedies, with Pichai calling them "far-reaching" and "extraordinary" and warning of potential security risks for user data.

Perplexity is tiny compared to Google, boasting 30 million active users and 780 million monthly queries versus Google's 13.7 billion daily searches. However, its AI-powered search app has surged in popularity on iOS and Android, and last month it launched Comet, a Chromium-based browser capable of following voice and text commands for tasks such as shopping, summarising social media feeds and sending emails.

In his letter to Pichai, Srinivas, a former Google intern, pledged that if the acquisition went ahead, Perplexity would keep Chromium open-source, maintain Google as Chrome's default search engine, retain most of Chrome's staff and invest $3 billion over two years in development.

Chrome's potential sale would likely ignite a bidding war, although any deal could take years to materialise given Google's appeals process.

A strategic PR move?

Commenting on the Perplexity's proposal to buy Google Chrome, Tom Inniss, marketing and SEO specialist, Brew Digital, said the proposal "reads more like a strategic PR move than a viable acquisition.”

Perplexity's bid to buy Chrome is unlikely to succeed due to significant practical and strategic barriers, Iniss argued. Chrome is integral to Google’s ecosystem, serving as a critical data and distribution channel for its services, making divestment highly improbable. And post-acquisition, Chrome’s market share would likely decline without its default status on Android and amid regulations designed to widen browser choice.

The move wouldn’t effectively address Google’s search monopoly, he added, as user habits and search quality remain the core issues.

"The real motive appears to be publicity," Inniss said. "That this is a bid to buy market share, rather than technology, is clear. Coupled with their previous, highly speculative interest in buying TikTok, this move seems designed to keep Perplexity in the headlines more than to see a deal through to completion.”