AI search firm Perplexity makes $34.5 billion surprise bid for Google Chrome

By Clare Duffy, Lisa Eadicicco, CNN

New York (CNN) — Artificial intelligence search company Perplexity has made an unsolicited, $34.5 billion offer to purchase Google’s Chrome browser, a surprise move by a Google Search challenger that’s looking to upend how people find information online.

A Perplexity spokesperson confirmed to CNN the details of the offer, which The Wall Street Journal first reported.

The bid comes as Google awaits a court’s decision after a landmark ruling last year found that the internet giant had violated US antitrust law with its search business. The US Justice Department has proposed as a remedy that Google sell its Chrome browser.

Google has promised to appeal the ruling and called the idea of spinning off Chrome an “unprecedented proposal” that it says would harm consumers and security. Google did not immediately provide a comment to CNN.

Perplexity’s offer — while likely a long shot, given Google’s resistance to a forced sale of Chrome — marks the latest example of how new firms are taking on tech’s biggest players to reshape the internet in the AI era.

Perplexity is a nearly three-year-old startup whose search tool uses AI models to parse web content and curate answers. Answers are usually posted as a summary, although Perplexity does provide links to its sources. It launched an AI search engine that competes with Google’s dominant offering in December 2022.

Perplexity launched its own AI-powered web browser called Comet in July. The company is pitching it as a more personalized browser that connects the dots between a user’s calendars, browsing tabs, social channels and more. OpenAI is also said to be developing a web browser, according to Reuters, in yet another signal that AI companies are looking to play a bigger role in how people use the web.

Perplexity was most recently valued at $18 billion following a $100 million funding round, Bloomberg said in a report last month, citing a person familiar with the matter. The company did not comment on the report.

That makes Perplexity’s offer for Chrome worth nearly double its own valuation. Google, meanwhile, is worth nearly $2.5 trillion; shares of the company (GOOGL) rose around 1% on Tuesday.

Google Chrome isn’t the only high profile acquisition target that Perplexity has pursued. The company said earlier this year it was making a bid to buy TikTok, after a law was passed last year requiring the social media app’s parent company, ByteDance, to sell it to a non-China-based company or face a ban in the United States.

Perplexity has also reportedly been eyeballed by bigger tech players — both Meta and Apple have had discussions about buying the AI search firm, according to reports from Bloomberg and The Information, although it’s not clear the talks will go anywhere.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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