By Atoyebi Nike
AI search startup Perplexity has made an unsolicited $34.5 billion bid to acquire Google’s Chrome browser, in a move aimed at pre-empting potential US antitrust action that could force Google to sell the product.
The San Francisco-based company confirmed it sent the offer to Google’s parent, Alphabet, on Tuesday, saying it has financial backing from major investment funds but declined to name them.
Perplexity, valued at $18 billion after a recent funding round, has been positioning itself as an AI-driven challenger to Google Search. It says it would invest $3 billion over two years to grow Chrome and its open-source Chromium project while retaining most of the browser’s current talent.
The bid comes as Google faces mounting regulatory pressure after a federal judge ruled last year that it illegally monopolized the search market. The US government has floated remedies, including forcing the sale of Chrome, though Google plans to appeal and is negotiating softer changes to its search agreements with Apple, Mozilla, and Android partners.
Industry analysts remain skeptical. Robert W. Baird & Co.’s Colin Sebastian estimated Chrome’s value at closer to $100 billion, calling Perplexity’s offer a “vast undervaluation” and warning that splitting Chrome from Google could hurt quality and reliability.
Perplexity insists it has the resources and vision to keep Chrome stable for users and advertisers. It is also preparing to launch its own AI-integrated browser, Comet. Whether Google engages with the offer or regulators step in remains uncertain.
