Inbizzy, – AI startup Perplexity has formally submitted an all-cash acquisition offer worth $34.5 billion to purchase Google Chrome, one of the world’s most popular web browsers. The proposal was sent via official letter to Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, accompanied by commitments to maintain platform openness and support the existing developer ecosystem.
Offer Value Exceeds Company Valuation
Perplexity currently holds a market valuation of approximately $18 billion, making the bid nearly twice the company’s total valuation. This disparity has raised questions among industry analysts regarding the financing sources and the feasibility of completing such a deal.
Chrome’s Market Share Dominance
According data from July 2025 , Google Chrome commands around 63% of the global desktop and mobile browser market, significantly outpacing its closest competitors Safari (20%) and Microsoft Edge (5%). This dominance is a key factor behind the ongoing antitrust lawsuit filed by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ).
Context of the Antitrust Lawsuit
The bid comes amid an antitrust suit filed by the US DOJ against Google, accusing the tech giant of monopolizing the web browser and search engine markets—particularly through the integration of Chrome and Google Search. The DOJ is reportedly considering options including a possible breakup or forced divestiture of Chrome as part of a legal settlement.
Perplexity’s Post-Acquisition Commitments
In its offer, Perplexity outlined several strategic plans for the browser post-acquisition:
- Keeping Chrome free and open to the public.
- Continuing support for the open-source Chromium project.
- Investing an additional $3 billion over the first two years to enhance features, security, and user privacy.
- Maintaining Google Search as the default search engine in Chrome to ensure user experience consistency.
Brief Profile of Perplexity
Founded in 2022 by Aravind Srinivas, Perplexity AI has rapidly grown as an AI-powered search platform known for its interactive information retrieval approach, combining generative AI with real-time data sources.
Reactions and Outlook
Google has yet to issue an official response to the offer. Industry analysts consider the bid unconventional due to the large valuation gap between Perplexity and Google. Nevertheless, this move is viewed as strategically timed amid increasing legal scrutiny of Google in the US and other jurisdictions.
If accepted, this acquisition would rank among the largest deals in the history of software and consumer technology industries and could reshape the competitive landscape of the global web browser market.
