AI Startup Perplexity Makes Stunning $34.5B Bid to Buy Chrome from Google

In a surprising move, US AI search startup Perplexity has reportedly sent a formal offer to Alphabet (Google's parent company) to acquire its Chrome browser. Sources put the potential deal price at a staggering $34.5 billion.

The financials are particularly eyebrow-raising. Perplexity's current market valuation sits at approximately $18 billion. This means the startup is offering nearly twice its own worth for Chrome – a massive discrepancy that's immediately raising eyebrows among analysts about the deal's feasibility.

Perplexity's Director of Business Development, Dmitry Shevelenko, confirmed the offer in comments to Bloomberg. He stated that if Google agrees, Perplexity would commit an additional $3 billion over the next two years to develop Chrome and its open-source foundation, Chromium. However, experts and observers widely view Perplexity's initiative as more of a publicity stunt than a serious attempt to acquire the browser.

Google has never indicated any intention to sell Chrome – the world's most popular browser and a core product. Many analysts actually consider the $34.5 billion price tag low for Chrome, given its near-monopoly status and deep integration within the Google ecosystem. Even in the hypothetical scenario of a sale, Google would be highly unlikely to choose a direct competitor in search and AI as the buyer.

Talk of a potential Chrome sale emerged last year following a US Justice Department ruling that labeled Google a search monopoly. To spur competition, the DOJ recommended exploring divesting the browser. Chrome's leadership, however, vehemently opposed the idea, arguing that its deep technological integration with Google services makes effective operation under a separate company impossible.