AI startup Perplexity made a formal offer to acquire Google’s Chrome browser for $34.5 billion, an audacious bid to get ahead of a potential requirement for the search giant to sell the web browser in U.S. antitrust proceedings.
The unsolicited bid, which Perplexity intends to fund with the help of outside investors, was sent to Alphabet Inc.’s Google on Tuesday morning, a Perplexity spokesperson said. It comes not long after rival artificial intelligence startup OpenAI also expressed interest in acquiring Chrome, which together with the open-source Chromium software is the main way people access the web on PCs.
Google didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
After a federal judge found last year that Google has an illegal monopoly in internet search, the U.S. government has said it wants Google to sell the Chrome browser and license search data to competitors, among other proposed changes. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta, who heard the case, is expected to issue a ruling in the coming days with remedies to prevent the company from monopolizing the online search market.
San Francisco-based startup Perplexity, which has sought to woo users from Google by offering search powered by AI, earlier this year raised $100 million in a round of funding that valued it at $18 billion, Bloomberg News reported. That raises the question of how Perplexity could afford to follow through on its Chrome offer.
“Multiple large investment funds have agreed to finance the transaction in full,” Perplexity Chief Business Officer Dmitry Shevelenko said. Perplexity declined to name the firms.
It isn’t the first time Perplexity has made an offer for a major internet property ahead of a forced transition. Earlier this year, the company also submitted a bid to TikTok parent ByteDance Ltd., to merge with its U.S. operations and create a new entity. TikTok is facing a U.S. ban without a deal.
The field of web browsers has seen renewed interest as AI companies seek to build agents that can complete online shopping and other tasks for users. Perplexity has said it is preparing to release a browser called Comet that features an AI agent.
The company added that it would not make any “stealth modifications” to Chrome. “This is part of our commitment to continuity and choice for users, and will likely be seen as having the benefit of stability for Google and its many advertisers,” the spokesperson wrote.
If the bid is accepted and a deal is approved, Perplexity said it would invest $3 billion over the next two years in Chrome and Chromium and “extend offers to a substantial portion of Chrome talent.” The company added that its offer to Google did not include any equity in Perplexity — to avoid any antitrust concerns.
Source: https://www.latimes.com/