Perplexity AI tables audacious thirty four billion pound bid for Google Chrome

Perplexity AI, a fast-rising artificial intelligence start-up based in San Francisco, is reported to have offered a striking $34.5 billion for Google Chrome, the world’s most widely used web browser. The move comes as Google contends with a protracted antitrust case in the United States, where it faces mounting pressure to divest key assets and curb its dominance in online search.

This unsolicited bid is remarkable not only for its size—almost double Perplexity’s own estimated valuation of around $18 billion—but also for its timing. Reports indicate that Perplexity has managed to secure backing from major venture capital funds to support the full amount of its offer. In recent correspondence with Google chief executive Sundar Pichai, Perplexity framed the bid as an elegant solution to ongoing regulatory concerns, suggesting their stewardship of Chrome would ‘satisfy an antitrust remedy in highest public interest by placing Chrome with a capable independent operator.’

The potential forced sale of Chrome stems from a US district court ruling which determined that Google exercised an illegal monopoly in the search market. Judge Amit Mehta is expected to publish a judgement imminently on how best to restore meaningful competition. Transferring control of Chrome, with its vast user base, would represent a seismic change in the balance of power in internet search and advertising.

This development arrives at a moment of existential uncertainty for the search market. The rapid deployment of AI-driven search and conversational assistants has begun to dent Google’s grip on how users find information online. Perplexity, launched in August 2022 by Aravind Srinivas, Denis Yarats, Johnny Ho, and Andy Konwinski, has carved out a leading position with conversational search tools, handling over 780 million queries each month and servicing about 30 million users worldwide.

The start-up’s expansion has been fuelled by a combination of premium subscriptions, advertising, and e-commerce services, with total funding reaching $665 million and its valuation rising rapidly in just over a year. Even as the company’s ambitions scale higher, controversy has trailed in the form of lawsuits from major publishers, including a News Corp subsidiary, over alleged copyright and trademark violations. Perplexity has strongly denied these claims, but scrutiny over its data practices and content sourcing continues.

Should the proposed acquisition move forward, it will undoubtedly reshape the landscape for browser software, advertising revenues and the future direction of internet search. For now, industry observers are watching the response from Google and regulators, as the ramifications of this audacious offer reverberate throughout the tech world.