Google Chrome for sale? Aravind Srinivas' Perplexity offers $34.5 billion to buy it: Full story in 5 points
If successful, the acquisition would give Perplexity instant scale in its battle against AI rivals such as OpenAI. Chrome is not just a web browser, it is a gateway to enormous amounts of search traffic and user data, both of which are increasingly critical in shaping AI products.Google under antitrust fireGoogle's legal troubles form the backdrop to this offer. A US court recently ruled that the company held an unlawful monopoly in online search. The US Department of Justice has suggested that selling Chrome could be one possible remedy to restore competition.Google, however, plans to appeal the decision and insists that the market is already competitive. The company has made no indication that Chrome is for sale. Experts note that any forced sale would likely face a long legal process, potentially taking years and reaching the US Supreme Court.Funding promises, but few detailsPerplexity has not revealed exactly how it would finance the $34.5 billion purchase. The company says several unnamed investment funds have offered to cover the full amount.To date, Perplexity has raised about $1 billion from investors including Nvidia and Japan's SoftBank. According to a term sheet seen by Reuters, the company has pledged to keep Chrome's underlying open-source code, Chromium, freely available; invest $3 billion over two years; and make no changes to Chrome's default search engine. Perplexity's pitch frames the deal as a way to preserve user choice while boosting competition.OpenAI's interest adds to the intriguePerplexity is not alone in its interest. Earlier this year, court testimony revealed that OpenAI also explored the idea of buying Chrome. Along with it, Yahoo also showed interest in buying Chrome. In 2023, OpenAI approached Google to gain access to its search API for use in ChatGPT, but Google declined, citing competitive concerns.advertisementSince then, OpenAI has relied on Microsoft's Bing to power its chatbot's search capabilities. The company admits it is still years away from building a search engine capable of handling the majority of user queries. Like Perplexity, owning Chrome would give OpenAI a direct route to billions of internet users.The road ahead: unlikely but high stakesIndustry analysts remain sceptical that Google would willingly part with Chrome, given its role as a cornerstone of the company's AI and search strategies. Chrome feeds valuable data into Google's AI models and supports new features like AI-generated 'Overviews' in search results.The Justice Department, however, argues that Google's control over search infrastructure could give it an unfair edge in the AI race. For now, Chrome remains firmly in Google's hands, but as the antitrust trial nears a decision on remedies, tech giants and investors alike are watching closely. Whether the sale happens or not, Chrome's future will be a central storyline in Big Tech's AI competition.- Ends
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