AI startup Perplexity makes bold $34.5 billion bid for Google’s Chrome browser – The Economic Times

Perplexity AI mentioned it has made a $34.5 billion unsolicited all-cash supply for Alphabet’s Chrome browser, a low however daring bid that would want financing properly above the startup’s personal valuation.

Run by Aravind Srinivas, Perplexity isn’t any stranger to headline-grabbing provides – it made an identical one for TikTok US in January, providing to merge with the favored short-video app to resolve U.S. considerations about TikTok’s Chinese language possession.

Shopping for Chrome would permit the startup to faucet the browser’s greater than three billion customers for an edge within the AI search race as regulatory strain threatens Google’s grip on the business.

Google didn’t instantly reply to a Reuters request for remark. The corporate has not provided Chrome on the market and plans to attraction a US courtroom ruling final 12 months that discovered it held an illegal monopoly in on-line search. The Justice Division has sought a Chrome divestiture as a part of the case’s treatments.

Perplexity didn’t disclose on Tuesday the way it plans to fund the supply. The three-year-old firm has raised round $1 billion in funding so removed from traders together with Nvidia and Japan’s SoftBank. It was final valued at $14 billion.

A number of funds have provided to finance the deal in full, an individual acquainted with the matter mentioned, with out naming the funds.

As a brand new technology of customers turns to chatbots equivalent to ChatGPT and Perplexity for solutions, internet browsers are regaining prominence as important gateways to go looking visitors and prized consumer knowledge, making them central to Large Tech’s AI ambitions.

Perplexity already has an AI browser, Comet, that may carry out sure duties on a consumer’s behalf and buying Chrome would give it the heft to raised compete in opposition to greater rivals equivalent to OpenAI. The ChatGPT guardian has additionally expressed curiosity in shopping for Chrome and is working by itself AI browser.

Perplexity’s bid pledges to maintain the underlying browser code known as Chromium open source, make investments $3 billion over two years and make no modifications to Chrome’s default search engine, based on a time period sheet seen by Reuters.

The corporate mentioned the supply, with no fairness part, would protect consumer selection and ease future competitors considerations.

Analysts have mentioned Google could be unlikely to promote Chrome and would seemingly interact in a protracted authorized combat to stop that final result, given it’s essential to the corporate’s AI push because it rolls out options together with AI-generated search summaries, referred to as Overviews, to assist defend its search market share.

A federal decide is predicted to difficulty a ruling on treatments within the Google search antitrust case someday this month.

Perplexity’s bid can be beneath the no less than $50 billion worth that rival search engine DuckDuckGo’s CEO, Gabriel Weinberg, prompt Chrome might command if Google was compelled to promote it.

Apart from OpenAI and Perplexity, Yahoo and private-equity agency Apollo International Administration have additionally expressed curiosity in Chrome.