Perplexity AI Makes $34.5 Billion Bid to Acquire Google’s Chrome Browser

Perplexity AI, the artificial intelligence startup, has confirmed making an unsolicited $34.5 billion bid to acquire Google’s Chrome browser, surpassing its own market valuation and backed by commitments from several investors to fully finance the deal.

The bid includes a pledge to keep the Chromium engine open-source and invest $3 billion into the project, reflecting Perplexity’s intent to maintain an open development environment and foster innovation in browsing technology.

The move comes amid an intensifying race for dominance in generative AI, with tech giants like Meta and OpenAI offering lucrative packages to top talent and investing tens of billions annually in infrastructure to build large language models. Perplexity, known for its AI-powered search engine, launched its own Comet browser last month.

The bid follows a U.S. Department of Justice proposal for Google to divest Chrome as part of an antitrust settlement, after a court ruled last year that Google holds an illegal monopoly in internet search. Google responded by calling the proposal a “radical interventionist agenda” and “wildly overbroad.”

Founded three years ago, Perplexity has raised around $1 billion from major investors including Nvidia and SoftBank, with its latest valuation at $14 billion. Earlier this year, the company made headlines with a proposal to merge with TikTok, though no deal was reached.