Perplexity AI, the startup behind the AI service with the identical title, has apparently made a suggestion to purchase Chrome from Google. The quantity it is keen to pay? A whopping $34.5 billion, in keeping with a brand new Reuters report.
This is not the primary time Perplexity has made a headline-grabbing supply – again in January, it additionally mentioned it needed to purchase TikTok’s US operations. Clearly, nothing got here of that (at the least thus far). Perplexity hasn’t revealed the way it plans to fund its acquisition of Chrome, merely stating that a number of funds have supplied to finance the deal in full (with out naming any names). It has thus far raised about $1 billion in funding for its AI chatbot, and that is clearly removed from what it is providing right here.
For the Chrome bid, OpenAI, Yahoo, and private-equity agency Apollo International Administration have additionally expressed curiosity thus far. All of this stems from regulatory strain within the US mounting in the direction of Google promoting off Chrome in order that it has much less of a grip on the trade.
For its half, Google thus far hasn’t truly supplied up Chrome on the market, and plans to enchantment a US court docket ruling from final yr that discovered it has an illegal monopoly in on-line search. The US Justice Division has sought a Chrome sell-off as a part of that case’s cures. A federal choose is anticipated to problem a ruling on cures on this case someday this month.
Perplexity just lately launched its personal AI-infused browser, Comet. Its fundamental promoting level is having the ability to carry out duties in your behalf. Clearly, shopping for Chrome would permit Perplexity to leverage its greater than three billion customers for its AI providers, and that might permit it to raised compete with the elephant within the AI room – OpenAI (which, by the way, can be engaged on an AI browser of its personal).
Perplexity guarantees to maintain the underlying Chromium code open supply, and make investments $3 billion over two years within the browser with out making any adjustments to Chrome’s default search engine. The corporate thinks its acquisition of Chrome would protect consumer alternative and ease future competitors issues.
