Perplexity AI has thrown a curveball into the tech world with a $34.5 billion bid to buy Google Chrome, according to a Reuters report. The audacious offer comes despite Google never officially putting Chrome up for sale and planning to appeal a US court ruling that found it holds an unlawful monopoly in online search.
The US Justice Department has been pushing for Google to divest Chrome as part of potential remedies, with a federal judge expected to decide on the matter soon.
Perplexity, best known for its AI chatbot and fresh off launching its AI-powered browser Comet, says it would keep Chrome’s Chromium code open source and invest $3 billion over two years without altering Chrome’s default search engine. The company claims this would preserve user choice and ease antitrust concerns. It has already raised about $1 billion in funding and insists unnamed investors are ready to fully finance the acquisition.
OpenAI, Yahoo, and Apollo Global Management have also reportedly shown interest in Chrome, underscoring how regulatory pressure is creating an unexpected feeding frenzy around one of the world’s most popular browsers, which boasts more than three billion users.
However, critics point out that Perplexity’s major backers include Amazon, Shopify, and Nvidia-raising eyebrows over whether the real goal is control over vast user data and ad revenue rather than improving the browser. Skeptics also note that Chrome’s open-source nature means any acquirer could theoretically abandon it without killing the project, leaving others to maintain it.
For now, the idea of Google selling Chrome seems far-fetched, but in an era of regulatory crackdowns and AI-fueled ambition, even wild scenarios can’t be entirely dismissed.