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<\/p>\n Email Link<\/p>\n New York \n Artificial intelligence search company Perplexity has made an unsolicited, $34.5 billion offer to purchase Google\u2019s Chrome browser, a surprise move by a Google Search challenger that\u2019s looking to upend how people find information online.\n <\/p>\n \n Perplexity spokesperson Jesse Dwyer confirmed to CNN the details of the offer, which The Wall Street Journal<\/a> first reported.\n <\/p>\n \n The bid comes as Google awaits a court\u2019s decision after a landmark ruling<\/a> 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<\/a> browser.\n <\/p>\n \n Google has promised to appeal the ruling and called<\/a> the idea of spinning off Chrome an \u201cunprecedented proposal\u201d that it says would harm consumers and security. Google declined to provide a comment to CNN regarding Perplexity\u2019s bid.\n <\/p>\n \n Perplexity\u2019s offer \u2014 while likely a long shot, given Google\u2019s resistance to a forced sale of Chrome \u2014 marks the latest example of how new firms are taking on tech\u2019s biggest players to reshape the internet in the AI era.\n <\/p>\n \n 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\u2019s dominant offering in December 2022.\n <\/p>\n \n 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\u2019s calendars, browsing tabs, social channels and more. OpenAI is also said to be developing a web browser, according to Reuters<\/a>, in yet another signal that AI companies are looking to play a bigger role in how people use the web.\n <\/p>\n \n Perplexity said it would maintain users\u2019 current browsing preferences, including Google as the default search engine, if it were to buy Chrome, Dwyer told CNN.\n <\/p>\n \n It would also commit to \u201ccontinued available and support\u201d for Chrome for 100 months and investing $3 billion in Chromium over the next 24 months, according to Dwyer. Chromium is Google\u2019s open-source underlying technology that other tech companies \u2013 including Microsoft and Perplexity \u2013 can use to build their own browsers.\n <\/p>\n \n Perplexity made the offer because it \u201cbelieves in the open web,\u201d Dwyer said.\n <\/p>\n \n Perplexity was most recently valued at $18 billion following a $100 million funding round, Bloomberg said in a report last month<\/a>, citing a person familiar with the matter. The company did not comment on the report.\n <\/p>\n \n That makes Perplexity\u2019s offer for Chrome worth nearly double its own valuation. Google, meanwhile, is worth nearly $2.5 trillion; shares of the company (GOOGL<\/a>) rose around 1% on Tuesday. The Wall Street Journal reported that several investors have agreed to back the purchase, including large venture capital firms.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThis is a smart and opportunistic move by Perplexity given the case against Google and regulatory scrutiny,\u201d Wedbush tech analyst Dan Ives told CNN, adding that he estimates Chrome is worth at least $50 billion. \u201cThis is all a game of high stakes poker and Perplexity made a good move.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Google Chrome isn\u2019t the only high profile acquisition target that Perplexity has pursued. The company said earlier this year<\/a> it was making a bid to buy TikTok, after a law was passed last year requiring the social media app\u2019s parent company, ByteDance, to sell it to a non-China-based company or face a ban in the United States.\n <\/p>\n
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