Perplexity AI Makes US$34.5 Billion Surprise Bid for Google’s Chrome Browser

NEW YORK – In a bold move that has stunned the tech world, Perplexity AI has made an unsolicited all-cash offer of US$34.5 billion (S$44.2 billion) for Alphabet’s Chrome browser, seeking to acquire the internet’s most widely used web browser as part of its push to dominate the AI-driven search market.

The offer, announced on Aug 12, significantly exceeds Perplexity’s own valuation and underscores the startup’s ambitions to secure Chrome’s estimated 3.2 billion global users. Launched in 2008, Chrome quickly overtook Internet Explorer and Firefox to become the leading browser, holding around 65% of global market share today. It has been central to Google’s dominance in search, integrating seamlessly with its ecosystem of products and services.

Perplexity AI

Perplexity AI, founded in 2022 by former OpenAI researcher Aravind Srinivas, has rapidly positioned itself as a challenger in the AI search space. The company markets itself as an “answer engine,” combining natural language models with real-time web search to deliver conversational, sourced responses. It has attracted significant venture capital and high-profile partnerships, but remains a fraction of the size of its target.

This is not Perplexity’s first high-profile move. In January, the firm offered to merge with TikTok US in a bid to address Washington’s concerns over Chinese ownership of the platform.

Alphabet has not placed Chrome up for sale and declined to comment on the bid. Google is currently appealing a 2024 US court ruling that found it held an unlawful monopoly in online search. The Justice Department has proposed a forced divestiture of Chrome as one of the remedies, a prospect that has attracted interest from tech giants including OpenAI, Yahoo, and private-equity firm Apollo Global Management.

If successful, the acquisition would mark a seismic shift in the tech industry, giving Perplexity unprecedented reach in the global browser market and a direct pipeline to billions of daily searches.

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