3 days ago
AI upstart Perplexity makes $34.5B offer for Google's Chrome
Perplexity today offered to buy the Chrome browser from Google for $34.5 billion, as first reported by the WSJ and confirmed by Axios.
Why it matters: If nothing else, this is a marketing masterstroke by Perplexity.
The AI upstart raises its public profile, including awareness of its own nascent Comet browser, by offering to buy something that's not for sale.
Catch up quick: Google may be forced to sell Chrome as a remedy to its antitrust troubles, at which point there could be several bidders with even deeper pockets than Perplexity (including OpenAI).
Behind the scenes: Perplexity code-named this effort Project Solomon, according to documents obtained by Axios.
The proposed term sheet it sent to Google is non-binding, and refers to the transaction as an asset sale "tailored to satisfy remedy requirements" related to the antitrust case.
Perplexity says it would "maintain uninterrupted availability and support for existing customers for at least 100 months post-close," and "always allow users to choose their own default settings."
It also pledges to invest $3 billion over two years to support Chrome.
By the numbers: Perplexity most recently was valued by VCs at $18 billion, in an early summer fundraising round led by Accel, but claims to have requisite financing lined up to buy Chrome for $34.5 billion.
It did not identify any investors in its letter to Google, but told the WSJ that "several investors including large venture-capital funds had agreed to back the transaction in full."
Multiple Perplexity investors tell Axios that they've not spoken to the company about a Chrome deal.
The intrigue: Perplexity is the buyside protagonist here, but it's also been talked about as a possible acquisition target for Google. And for Apple.
