Perplexity AI has made a US$34.5 billion offer to acquire the Chrome browser owned by Google, a subsidiary of Alphabet. The bid is considered modest but exceeds the market value of the start-up, estimated at US$14 billion.
Perplexity aims to use the potential acquisition to gain an advantage in the artificial intelligence search race by leveraging Chrome’s user base, which exceeds 3 billion people. The move comes as Google faces regulatory pressures and plans to appeal a US court ruling last year that found it had unlawfully monopolised internet search.
According to Reuters, citing a person familiar with the matter, several funds have offered to fully finance the deal.
