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AI Browser Wars: Perplexity makes $34.5 billion unsolicited bid for Google Chrome
AI search startup Perplexity has made an unsolicited $34.5 billion bid to acquire Google Chrome, signaling bold ambitions in the browser market despite Google showing no interest in selling.
Perplexity, an artificial intelligence search startup valued at about $18 billion, has made an audacious $34.5 billion offer to acquire Google Chrome, according to reports from The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg. The company confirmed the unsolicited bid through spokesperson Jesse Dwyer, describing it as part of a long-term strategy to expand into the browser market. Google has shown no interest in selling Chrome, and there is no regulatory order requiring it to do so.
The approach echoes Perplexity’s earlier — and ultimately unsuccessful — attempt this year to acquire TikTok’s U.S. operations, a deal that ran into regulatory uncertainty.
Dmitry Shevelenko, Perplexity’s chief business officer, told Bloomberg that “multiple large investment funds” had agreed to fully finance the offer. If successful, Perplexity said it would invest more than $3 billion into Chrome and its open-source base, Chromium, within two years. The company also pledged to hire a “substantial portion” of Chrome’s existing team.
Perplexity emphasized it would not make “stealth modifications” to the browser, pointing to its commitment to preserving user continuity and advertiser stability. The bid notably excludes any equity in Perplexity itself, a move the company said was intended to avoid antitrust complications.
The global browser market has been attracting fresh interest from AI companies seeking to integrate virtual agents into everyday web use. Perplexity is already developing its own AI-powered browser, Comet, designed to handle online shopping and other automated tasks.
Whether Google will entertain the proposal remains uncertain. But the size of the bid — nearly double Perplexity’s own valuation — underscores the company’s ambition to become a force in the browser market. It could also be a calculated move to unsettle Google, led by Sundar Pichai, which is expected to be one of Perplexity’s toughest rivals in the AI browser race.
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