{"id":74320,"date":"2025-08-16T14:59:13","date_gmt":"2025-08-16T14:59:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/74320\/"},"modified":"2025-08-16T14:59:13","modified_gmt":"2025-08-16T14:59:13","slug":"perplexitys-bid-for-google-chrome-could-be-just-the-beginning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/74320\/","title":{"rendered":"Perplexity\u2019s bid for Google Chrome could be just the beginning"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"speakable-summary\" class=\"has-text-align-left wp-block-paragraph\">Perplexity, the AI search startup that hasn\u2019t even cracked 100 million monthly users,<a href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2025\/08\/12\/perplexity-offers-to-buy-chrome-for-billions-more-than-its-raised\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> \u2060just made a $34.5 billion cash offer\u2060<\/a> to buy Chrome from Google.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The unsolicited bid comes as the DOJ prepares its remedy decision after<a href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2025\/03\/08\/new-doj-proposal-still-calls-for-google-to-divest-chrome-but-allows-for-ai-investments\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> \u2060ruling Google illegally maintained a search monopoly\u2060<\/a>. The timing makes sense, but questions remain. Perplexity won\u2019t name its backers for the massive deal, and the offer is worth far more than the company has raised.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The move fits Perplexity\u2019s broader push for distribution after earning plenty of buzz in tech circles but struggling with mainstream user adoption. The company has also explored acquiring Brave browser and launched its own AI-powered browser,<a href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2025\/07\/09\/perplexity-launches-comet-an-ai-powered-web-browser\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> \u2060Comet\u2060<\/a>. Whether this Chrome play is serious or just a stunt is still up for debate.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On <a href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/podcasts\/equity\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">\u2060Equity\u2060<\/a>, we\u2019re revisiting a conversation with<a href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/podcast\/are-googles-monopoly-cases-5-years-too-late-or-2-years-too-early\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> \u2060Neil Chilson\u2060<\/a>, a lawyer, computer scientist, and head of AI Policy at the Abundance Institute, to unpack what\u2019s at stake for Google in its search and ad tech battles, and how generative AI could reshape competition in the space.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As always, Equity will be back for you next week, so don\u2019t miss it!<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Equity is TechCrunch\u2019s flagship podcast, produced by Theresa Loconsolo, and posts every Wednesday and Friday.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left wp-block-paragraph\">Subscribe to us on<a href=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/id1215439780\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">\u2060 Apple Podcasts\u2060<\/a>,<a href=\"https:\/\/overcast.fm\/itunes1215439780\/equity\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">\u2060 Overcast\u2060<\/a>,<a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/5IEYLip3eDppcOmy5DmphC?si=rZDFHv2sQUul_g94iCRgpQ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">\u2060 Spotify\u2060<\/a> and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/EquityPod\" target=\"_blank\">\u2060 X\u2060<\/a> and<a href=\"https:\/\/www.threads.net\/@equitypod\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">\u2060 Threads\u2060<\/a>, at @EquityPod.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We\u2019re always looking to evolve, and by providing some insight into your perspective and feedback into TechCrunch and our coverage and events, you can help us! Fill out\u00a0<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/survey.researchresults.com\/survey\/selfserve\/53b\/g002\/s0064551?list=tcap#?\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">this survey<\/a>\u00a0to let us know how we\u2019re doing and get the chance to win a prize in return!<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Perplexity, the AI search startup that hasn\u2019t even cracked 100 million monthly users, \u2060just made a $34.5 billion&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":74321,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[62,45865,276,277,49,48,45863,22364,45864,6592,61],"class_list":["post-74320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-antitrust-case","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-equity-podcast","tag-google-chrome","tag-google-monopoly","tag-perplexity","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74320"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74320\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}