Move over, ChatGPT: Perplexity bids $34.5 billion for Google Chrome
As an antitrust antitrust on the Google Chrome browser, the rivals are striking: Perplexity has launched an unsolicited offer to buy Chrome for $ 34.5 billion, according to reports.
Bloomberg reported the proposed agreement, confirmed by a perplexity representative, just like the Wall Street Journal.
But there is a hook: perplexity does not to have $ 34.5 billion to finance the agreement with. In fact, the WSJ estimates its own assessment at only $ 18 billion. This means that perplexity should offer another source of money, and it seems that it did exactly. Perplexity business director Dmitry Shevelenk told Bloomberg that “several major investment companies have agreed to finance the agreement”.
Google Chrome is built on chromium, the open source foundation which feeds almost all rival chrome browsers, including Microsoft Edge, its nearest rival on Windows. In the United States, Chrome holds 51.05% of all user sessions, reports Statcounter. According to the WSJ, perplexity has agreed to maintain chrome And Keep Google as default search engine in Chrome, at least for the moment.
Last August, a federal judge revealed that Google’s research and advertising activities were an illegal monopoly. In November 2024, the Ministry of Justice proposed a dramatic remedy – that Google should sell Chrome. And with this, the Vultures began to turn: Chatgpt expressed interest in buying Chrome. In April, Perplexity and Yahoo also expressed their interest in buying Chrome.
Google, in an attempted favor in the favor of the government, killed its initiatives of Dei and the director general Sundar Pichai tried to please President Trump during his inauguration. So far, these efforts have not worked. Google also said it would appeal the decision.
Now, it is up to Google to accept or reject the agreement – or to force the rivals of perplexity to put their money where their mouths are. One thing is clear: Google Chrome is a hot property, even if it is not clear how a tenderer will lead to enough income from a free browser (mainly) to recover his payment.
