According to Reuters, Perplexity, an AI start-up company known for its same name chat robotics and large language model (LLLM) search engine, has formally offered to acquire the Chrome browser under the Google flag. The proposed offer of $34.5 billion is well above the current valuation of Perplexity. In July this year, the company was valued at $18 billion. Perplexity indicated that several interested investors were willing to support the Chrome deal.
The acquisition proposal for erplexity stems from Google ‘ s defeat in an antimonopoly suit brought by the United States Department of Justice last year. The judge found that Google maintained an illegal monopoly in the Internet search industry. One of the potential remedial measures being considered is the requirement that Google strip off the Chrome browser. The MoJ petition maintains that this would create a more level playing field for the search engine competitors.
The United States Department of Justice also stressed at that time that if the above-mentioned measures were still unable to shake Google ‘ s monopoly, consideration would be given to selling Android. The Google Monopolies case was the most important scientific and technological antimonopoly suit since the Microsoft case, when the United States Department of Justice in the 1990s sold other software “tied” with Windows operating systems to conduct an anti-monopoly investigation of Microsoft, almost split it into two.
Google has not yet elaborated on any plans to divest Chrome or change its business model. The company responded that the decision reflected a “radical interventionist agenda” and vowed to fight to the end, and the judge was expected to rule on the remedy this month.
In fact, Perplexity itself has been the subject of attention by large technology companies. Meta approached Perpexity earlier this year to seek acquisitions, but the deal was ultimately not reached.
The successful acquisition of the Chrome Browser by this nascent calves, which is not afraid of tigers, would give them a great advantage in the AI arms race, especially given that their opponents are giants like Google, Meta and OpenAI. Although there is no comparable capital in Perpexity to recapitalize engineers, mastering the largest search engine in the world will help to model its smart agent search engine AI, which constructs corporate poles. The latest result of Perplexity is Comet, an AI search engine that the company has just launched last month.
It is worth mentioning that, previously, Perplexity had indicated that it did not support forcing Google to sell the Crome Browser, and its Chief Executive Officer, Aravind Srinivas, stated: “I do not believe that there are institutions other than Google that can operate such a large thing as Crome without compromising quality.”
At the same time, in an article entitled ” Choosing is good medicine”, Perplexity said: “Google sustains industry leadership by paying consumers to gain sub-standard experience, rather than building better products.” Perplexity therefore hopes that Android will be removed from all Google services and that the penalty imposed on the operator of the alternative programme will be removed.