In a move that has sent shockwaves through Silicon Valley and the broader tech industry, Perplexity AI, a rapidly growing artificial intelligence startup, has made an unsolicited $34.5 billion all-cash bid to acquire Alphabet’s Chrome browser. The bold offer, announced on August 12, 2025, is more than double Perplexity’s own valuation and marks a dramatic escalation in the ongoing race to dominate the future of online search and artificial intelligence.
Led by CEO Aravind Srinivas, Perplexity AI is no stranger to headline-grabbing proposals. Earlier this year, the company made a similar overture to merge with TikTok US, aiming to resolve concerns over the popular app’s Chinese ownership. Now, by targeting Chrome—one of the world’s most widely used web browsers with over three billion users—Perplexity is aiming to catapult itself into the upper echelons of Big Tech, challenging behemoths like OpenAI and Google itself.
According to Reuters, Perplexity’s bid comes at a time when browsers are regaining prominence as key gateways to search traffic and valuable user data. As more users turn to AI-powered chatbots such as ChatGPT and Perplexity’s own offerings for answers, the browser has become a crucial battleground in the fight for AI supremacy. Perplexity’s AI browser, Comet, already performs tasks on users’ behalf, but acquiring Chrome would give the startup access to a massive built-in audience, potentially leveling the playing field with its much larger rivals.
Perplexity’s offer is not only notable for its size but also for its terms. The company has pledged to keep the underlying browser code, known as Chromium, open source, invest $3 billion into the platform over the next two years, and make no changes to Chrome’s default search engine. According to a term sheet seen by Reuters, the all-cash offer contains no equity component, a move Perplexity says will preserve user choice and ease concerns about future competition. The company also claims that multiple funds have offered to finance the deal in full, though it has not disclosed the names of these backers or the details of the financing arrangement.
Despite the splashy proposal, industry analysts remain deeply skeptical that Google would ever agree to part with Chrome. The browser is a linchpin in Google’s broader AI strategy, especially as the company rolls out new features such as AI-generated search summaries, known as Overviews, in an effort to defend its dominant share of the search market. As Reuters notes, Google has not offered Chrome for sale and plans to appeal a U.S. court ruling from last year that found it held an unlawful monopoly in online search.
The legal backdrop to Perplexity’s offer is as complex as it is contentious. The U.S. Justice Department has sought a divestiture of Chrome as part of the remedies in its antitrust case against Google. Federal judge Amit Mehta is expected to issue a ruling on remedies sometime this month, a decision that could have far-reaching implications for Google’s business and the broader tech landscape. Yet, as Professor Herbert Hovenkamp of the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School told Reuters, the legal process could drag on for years. “Judge Mehta is a pretty orthodox guy. It’s very possible that he would hold off on requiring a sale until the appeals process is worked out and that could be a very lengthy period of time,” Hovenkamp said. “It would go to the DC Circuit, which is skeptical of forced divestitures, and it’s possible it would even go to the Supreme Court after that. So that process could run out for a couple of years.”
Perplexity’s audacious bid has also attracted attention because of its valuation. The company, which is just three years old, has raised about $1 billion in funding from high-profile investors such as Nvidia and Japan’s SoftBank and was most recently valued at $14 billion. That makes its $34.5 billion offer for Chrome more than twice its own worth—a move that would be nearly unprecedented in the tech world. For comparison, DuckDuckGo CEO Gabriel Weinberg has suggested that Chrome could be worth at least $50 billion if Google were ever forced to sell it, putting Perplexity’s bid well below that hypothetical price tag.
The financial markets responded quickly to the news. Alphabet’s shares were up 1.6% in afternoon trading on August 12, 2025, as investors weighed the prospect of regulatory changes and the potential for a drawn-out legal battle. Meanwhile, other tech giants have reportedly shown interest in Chrome as well, including OpenAI, Yahoo, and private-equity firm Apollo Global Management, all eager to capitalize on regulatory pressures that could loosen Google’s grip on the browser market.
For Perplexity, the strategic logic is clear. Acquiring Chrome would instantly provide it with access to billions of users and a treasure trove of data, giving it the scale needed to compete with OpenAI, whose parent company is also developing its own AI browser. The move would also allow Perplexity to accelerate the rollout of its own AI features, leveraging Chrome’s global reach to shape how the next generation of internet users interacts with search, content, and digital services.
Yet, the road ahead is anything but certain. Google remains firmly opposed to selling Chrome and is expected to fight any forced divestiture tooth and nail. The appeals process could wind its way through the courts for years, with the DC Circuit and even the Supreme Court potentially weighing in. In the meantime, the broader industry is watching closely to see how regulators, competitors, and consumers respond to the shifting landscape.
As the dust settles on Perplexity’s surprise bid, one thing is clear: the battle for the future of online search and AI is heating up, and the humble web browser has once again taken center stage. Whether Perplexity’s gamble will pay off remains to be seen, but the company has certainly succeeded in putting itself—and the fate of Chrome—squarely in the spotlight.
