Perplexity AI announced that it has submitted a $34.5 billion bid to acquire Chrome, the browser owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet—a relatively low offer that would still require financing far exceeding the startup’s own market value.
اضافة اعلان
Perplexity, led by Aravind Srinivas, is no stranger to headline-grabbing proposals. In January, it offered to merge with TikTok’s U.S. operations in an attempt to address American concerns over Chinese ownership of the popular short-video app.
Acquiring Chrome would give the startup access to the browser’s more than three billion users, providing a competitive edge in the AI-powered search race.
Legal Dispute
Google has yet to respond to Reuters’ request for comment and has not put Chrome up for sale. The tech giant plans to appeal a U.S. court ruling last year that found it unlawfully monopolized internet search.
The U.S. Department of Justice is seeking to divest Chrome as part of resolving the case.
Perplexity has not disclosed how it plans to finance the offer. The three-year-old company has raised around $1 billion to date from investors including Nvidia and Japan’s SoftBank, and was most recently valued at $14 billion.
According to a source familiar with the matter, several funds have offered to fully finance the deal, though no names were disclosed. –Agencies
