Perplexity makes an offer to buy Google Chrome for nearly double its worth

Google Chrome

Perplexity has submitted an unsolicited $34.5 billion offer to acquire Google Chrome, according to The Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg. The AI search startup — valued at roughly $18 billion — confirmed the bid through spokesperson Jesse Dwyer, calling it part of its long-term strategy to expand in the browser market.

Google has shown no willingness to sell Chrome, and no court order has forced a divestment. Perplexity’s move mirrors its earlier attempt this year to acquire TikTok’s US operations, which also faced regulatory uncertainty.

Dmitry Shevelenko, Perplexity’s chief business officer, told Bloomberg that “multiple large investment funds” have agreed to fully finance the deal. The company pledged to invest over $3 billion in Chrome and its open-source base, Chromium, within two years of a purchase. It also promised to hire a “substantial portion” of Chrome’s existing team.

Perplexity stressed it would not make “stealth modifications” to the browser, citing a commitment to user continuity and advertiser stability. Importantly, the bid excludes any equity in Perplexity itself — a move aimed at avoiding antitrust issues.

The browser market has been heating up as AI firms eye opportunities to integrate virtual agents into everyday web use. Perplexity is already developing its own AI-powered browser, Comet, designed to handle online shopping and other automated tasks.

Whether Google engages with the proposal remains uncertain, but the sheer scale of the bid — outstripping Perplexity’s own valuation — clearly shows Perplexity's ambition to become a heavyweight in the browser space. Or it could be a move to ruffle Google's feathers as it is expected that the Sundar Pichai-led company will be one of the strongest competitors Perplexity faces in the AI browser race.