AI Search Engine Perplexity is Reportedly Seeking to Acquire Google's Chrome Browser for $34.5 billion.
The AI search engine company Perplexity AI has offered the technology giant Google $34.5 billion for its Chrome web browser. The startup confirmed to the news agency AFP that it has sent a corresponding letter of intent to Google.
The Wall Street Journal had previously reported on the offer. According to the newspaper, Perplexity AI is valued at $18 billion—slightly more than half the amount it has now offered Google.
However, a company spokesperson told AFP that several significant investment funds were interested in participating in financing the acquisition. Management was confident it could raise the required amount. Google did not initially respond to an AFP inquiry about Perplexity AI's takeover offer.
A combination of an assistant and a search engine
Perplexity combines an AI assistant and a search engine to find information on the internet. Users enter questions and receive answers available in online sources, similar to OpenAI's AI assistant ChatGPT or Mistral's European rival, Le Chat.
Google was found guilty last year of engaging in illegal practices aimed at maintaining its monopoly in the online search market. Sentencing is still pending. The U.S. Department of Justice had demanded explicitly that Google sell its Chrome browser.
Perplexity AI stated that its takeover offer was designed "in the public interest and with due consideration of competition law requirements" and that the browser will be transferred to "an independent and competent operator." "We believe we are the best custodians of Chrome," said the startup's communications director, Jesse Dwyer.
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