Artificial intelligence startup Perplexity AI has made an unsolicited $34.5 billion all-cash offer to acquire Google’s Chrome browser, the company confirmed Tuesday, in a move that could shake up the global browser and search markets — or spark one of the boldest debates in tech this year.
The three-year-old firm, backed by high-profile investors including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, chipmaker Nvidia, and Japan’s SoftBank, says multiple investment funds have pledged to fully finance the purchase. CEO Aravind Srinivas, a former Google and OpenAI engineer, has framed the bid as a commitment to “user choice and the open web.” But with Perplexity’s own valuation hovering around $18 billion, some industry watchers are asking: is this a serious takeover attempt, or just a headline grabber?
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Regulatory Winds in the Background
The timing is no accident. The U.S. Department of Justice is pushing for Chrome’s divestiture as part of remedies in an antitrust case Google lost last year. The DOJ argues that selling Chrome would break the company’s control over a “critical access point” to the internet. A ruling on potential remedies from Judge Amit Mehta is expected this month — though legal appeals could drag this fight out for years.
Perplexity’s Plan for Acquiring Chrome
- Keep Chrome’s open-source foundation, Chromium, freely available.
- Maintain Google as the default search engine (with the option for users to change).
- Invest $3 billion over the next two years in security, privacy, and performance.
Perplexity already runs its own AI-powered browser, Comet, and says acquiring Chrome would give it the scale to compete with AI heavyweights like OpenAI (who is also working on an AI browser), Meta, and Google itself.
Vision or Stunt? The Industry Is Split
Reactions have been sharply divided. Some tech investors praise Perplexity’s boldness, arguing it could finally challenge Google’s dominance and create a more open web. Others, like investor Heath Ahrens, dismiss it as “nowhere near Chrome’s true value.” DuckDuckGo CEO Gabriel Weinberg has pegged Chrome’s worth at $50 billion minimum, while some analysts say its unmatched data and reach could push its value into the hundreds of billions.
Google, for its part, insists that selling Chrome would harm consumers and online security, calling the DOJ’s push “wildly overbroad.” The company has not indicated any willingness to sell.
The Big Question for the Public
Would moving Chrome into the hands of a smaller, AI-focused company actually make the internet more open and competitive — or would it simply replace one giant with another? Could Perplexity really handle the scale, security, and privacy needs of billions of Chrome users, or would this be a risky experiment in the middle of the AI arms race?
AI now changes how people find and use information. This deal isn’t just about business; it shows us what the internet will be like in the future. The real question is, who should be in charge of that future?
