Perplexity Wants to Buy Chrome Browser for $34.5B

AI startup Perplexity has made an unsolicited proposal to purchase Google's Chrome browser for $34.5 billion in cash, according to a company spokesperson. The bid comes after growing regulatory pressure on Google, with a federal judge previously ruling that the company holds an illegal monopoly in internet search. The U.S. government may require Google to sell Chrome and share its search data with competitors.

Perplexity, valued at $18 billion after a funding round earlier this year, says multiple large investment funds have agreed to fully finance the purchase.The company has also been working on its own, newly released but still only available via invites, AI-powered browser, Comet , which has integrated AI agent capabilities.

The proposal includes a pledge to invest $3 billion over the next two years to improve Chrome and its open-source base, Chromium. Perplexity says

• It would extend job offers to a large portion of the existing Chrome team.

• Has promised not to make hidden changes to the browser.

• Google Search would remain the default search engine under Perplexity's ownership, and the code would stay open-source.  

Google is unlikely to voluntarily part with Chrome, as it plays a central role in the company's search and AI plans. Some industry experts value Chrome at over $50 billion, which could mean Perplexity's offer is lower than what Google might accept, as reported by Bloomberg.  

Other companies, including OpenAI, have also shown interest in acquiring Chrome should authorities force its sale. Any such deal would have a big impact on how billions of people access the web.