Perplexity has made an unsolicited all-cash offer of 34.5 billion dollars to buy Google Chrome. The bid arrives as the fate of Chrome is being considered in US antitrust proceedings.
Perplexity said it would keep Chrome based on the Chromium engine open source. The company also pledged to invest three billion dollars into Chromium and to avoid changing Chrome user defaults, including the search engine setting. These commitments appear in the term sheet that Reuters and other outlets reviewed.
Why Perplexity is making this move now
The offer follows a US court ruling and a proposed remedy that could require Google to divest Chrome. Perplexity and some other firms have signaled interest in buying Chrome should a divestiture be ordered. The timing of the offer looks tied to the regulatory and court process that addresses Google’s search market power.
Perplexity has raised far less capital than the amount of the offer. The company has raised roughly one point five billion dollars so far and had a valuation reported around eighteen billion dollars in recent rounds. The thirty four point five billion dollar figure is well above that funding level and would require external financing or partners to complete.
Perplexity’s wider strategy and product moves
Perplexity has been building an AI search business, and it launched its own AI browser called Comet last month. The company is expanding fast, and it sees control of a major browser as a way to scale user reach and distribution. Perplexity has also explored other bold deals and moves as it seeks growth and market presence.
Google is not currently planning to sell Chrome. The company has vowed to appeal antitrust rulings that would force a divestiture. Even if a court orders a sale, the process would be long and complex. Observers say that legal fights and appeals could delay any forced sale for years. That reality makes a direct purchase unlikely in the near term unless Google chooses to negotiate.
What Perplexity promises would mean in practice
If a sale happened under Perplexity control and the company honored its promises, then Chromium, as an open source engine, would remain available to the wider developer community. Perplexity’s pledge to keep default search settings unchanged would also mean Chrome users would keep Google as their default search engine unless they opt to change it. The investment promise could fund improvements to the Chromium project and to web standards work.
The offer creates financial and operational risks for a startup. The deal size is large relative to Perplexity’s balance sheet. The company would need significant capital partners or lenders to complete the purchase. There are also regulatory risks in many countries, given the strategic role of Chrome in the internet ecosystem. Finally, the firm must address questions about crawler behavior and data practices that have drawn scrutiny in recent months.
How regulators and the market may react
Regulators will examine potential buyers and the effects on competition if a sale were ordered. Other large companies and funds may also bid if Google is forced to divest. Players in the market are paying close attention to it since Chrome is in a dominant position in the global browser market, and ownership influences search distribution as well as ad markets. Any ownership change would alter competition in large proportions.
The acquisition of Chrome by Perplexity is a sensational market takeover that underlines the impact of antitrust influence that may prompt a revolutionary step into the market. There are also feasibility issues concerning funding, governance, and regulation in the proposal. The main question will be whether Google will react and how regulators will treat the need to have remedies that might be necessary for the browser and search markets.