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Perplexity AI Proposes $34.5 Billion Cash Acquisition of Google Chrome

Perplexity’s investor-backed proposal includes preserving Chromium’s open-source code and Google’s default search designation

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Aravind Srinivas, chief executive officer of Perplexity AI Inc., during the Bloomberg Tech conference in San Francisco, California, US, on Thursday, June 5, 2025.
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Overview

  • The AI startup has submitted an unsolicited all-cash bid of $34.5 billion to acquire Google’s Chrome browser.
  • The offer is linked to the DOJ’s antitrust remedies process after a judge ruled that Google unlawfully monopolized search and recommended divesting Chrome.
  • Perplexity pledged to invest $3 billion in Chrome development over two years while keeping Chromium open source and retaining Google as the default search engine.
  • Multiple large investment funds have committed to finance the full transaction despite Perplexity’s own valuation of roughly $18 billion.
  • Google has declined to sell, plans to appeal any divestiture order and analysts view the bid as unlikely to succeed in the near term given legal and technical hurdles.