Perplexity AI has made an unsolicited all-cash bid of $34.5 billion offer for Alphabet’s Chrome browser, a proposition that far surpasses its own worth as the startup seeks to grab the browser’s enormous user base, which is vital in the fiercely competitive AI search scene.
Perplexity, headed by Aravind Srinivas, is adept at making audacious offers; in January, it had suggested a merger with TikTok US to allay U.S. worries about the app’s Chinese ownership. Particularly as regulatory investigation heats up, OpenAI, Yahoo, and private-equity firm Apollo Global Management have shown interest in Chrome, thereby challenging Google’s dominance in the industry.
Chrome has not been put up for sale by the tech behemoth, which intends to challenge a U.S. court ruling from last year that found it held an unlawful monopoly in internet search. Advocating for a Chrome divestiture among the solutions in this case is the Justice Department.
Perplexity did not disclose its funding strategy on Tuesday. Last estimated at $14 billion, the three-year-old business has raised about $1 billion from investors, including Japan’s SoftBank and Nvidia. Though it did not identify them, perplexity noted that several funds had shown an inclination to completely fund the transaction. Alphabet’s stock rose 1.6% during afternoon trading.
Web browsers are once again seen as vital channels for search traffic and useful user data, as a new wave of consumers more and more depends on chatbots like ChatGPT and Perplexity for information, therefore placing them at the center of Big Tech’s artificial intelligence plans. Already functioning as an artificial intelligence browser called Comet. Perplexity already performs particular duties on behalf of consumers.
Chrome would be able to reach the over three billion population of the browser, thus improving its capacity to compete with bigger competitors such as The Browser Company’s AI-powered browser Dia, which is currently at $20 monthly subscription.
