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18.39
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Impact LevelMedium
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Scope LevelNational
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Last Update2025-08-12
Key Impacts
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Event Overview
A corporate acquisition attempt by a fast-growing AI search startup challenges a tech giant's dominance in the browser market, highlighting competitive tensions in digital infrastructure. The strategic financial offer underscores aggressive market entry tactics and potential shifts in search engine market dynamics. This reflects broader industry disruptions driven by emerging technologies and evolving business strategies within the tech sector.
Collect Records
Perplexity Makes $34.5 Billion Unsolicited Offer to Buy Google Chrome
Artificial intelligence search company Perplexity has made an unsolicited $34.5 billion offer to purchase Google’s Chrome web browser, as first reported by The Wall Street Journal and confirmed by the company to CNN and Axios. The nearly three-year-old AI startup, which launched its AI-powered search engine in December 2022 to compete with Google Search, proposes to keep Google as Chrome's default search engine if the acquisition succeeds.
Perplexity spokesperson Jesse Dwyer stated that the company would ensure 100 months of continued availability and support for Chrome, and invest $3 billion in Chromium, the open-source browser technology that underpins Chrome, within 24 months. Perplexity’s business model curates AI-generated summaries of web content, also linking to original sources.
The offer comes amid ongoing antitrust challenges for Google. A U.S. court previously ruled that Google violated antitrust laws with its search business, and the Department of Justice has suggested that selling Chrome could be an appropriate remedy. Google has said it will appeal the ruling, calling the proposed divestiture unprecedented and potentially harmful to consumers and security. Google declined to comment on Perplexity’s bid.
Wedbush tech analyst Dan Ives called the move “smart and opportunistic,” estimating Chrome’s value at no less than $50 billion. Axios reported that Perplexity’s internal codename for the proposed acquisition is “Project Solomon.” Perplexity was last valued at $18 billion in a recent funding round led by Accel but claims it has secured the necessary financing for the $34.5 billion purchase.
The bid adds to speculation about regulatory-driven changes in the tech industry, as some observers anticipate that larger contenders—possibly including OpenAI—could also compete for Chrome if the courts force Google to sell the browser.