Key points
- Perplexity is no stranger to headline-grabbing offers
- It made a similar one for TikTok US in January
- This proposal is designed to satisfy an antitrust remedy: Perplexity CEO
ISLAMABAD: Perplexity AI said it has made a $34.5bn unsolicited all-cash offer for Alphabet’s Google Chrome browser.
The deal, if Alphabet agreed to it, would also require financing above the startup’s most recently reported valuation of $18bn, according to Al Jazeera.
“This proposal is designed to satisfy an antitrust remedy in highest public interest by placing Chrome with a capable, independent operator focused on continuity, openness, and consumer protection,” Perplexity chief executive Aravind Srinivas said in the letter, a copy of which was seen by AFP.
Perplexity is no stranger to headline-grabbing offers: it made a similar one for TikTok US in January, offering to merge with the popular short-video app to resolve US concerns about TikTok’s ownership.
Illegal monopoly
Google is awaiting US District Court Judge Amit Mehta’s ruling on what “remedies” to impose, following a landmark decision last year that said the tech titan maintained an illegal monopoly in online search.
US government attorneys have called for Google to divest itself of the Chrome browser, contending that artificial intelligence is poised to ramp up the tech giant’s dominance as the go-to window into the internet.
READ ALSO: OpenAI to Launch AI-Powered Web Browser to Challenge Google Chrome
Google has urged Mehta to reject the divestment, and his decision is expected by the end of the month.
Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Perplexity’s offer vastly undervalues Chrome and “should not be taken seriously,” Baird Equity Research analysts said in a note to investors.
Given that Perplexity already has a browser that competes with Chrome, the San Francisco-based startup could be trying to spark others to bid or “influence the pending decision” in the antitrust case, Baird analysts theorised.
Browser share
“Either way, we believe Perplexity would view an independent Chrome — or one no longer affiliated with Google — as an advantage as it attempts to take browser share,” Baird analysts told investors.
Google contends that the United States has gone way beyond the scope of the suit by recommending a spinoff of Chrome, and holding open the option to force a sale of its Android mobile operating system.
READ ALSO: US-Owned Perplexity AI Proposes to Take 50% Share in TikTok
“Forcing the sale of Chrome or banning default agreements wouldn’t foster competition,” said Cato Institute senior fellow in technology policy Jennifer Huddleston.
“It would hobble innovation, hurt smaller players, and leave users with worse products.”
Global ramifications
Google attorney John Schmidtlein noted in court that more than 80 per cent of Chrome users are outside the United States, meaning divestiture would have global ramifications.
“Any divested Chrome would be a shadow of the current Chrome,” he contended.
“And once we are in that world, I don’t see how you can say anybody is better off.”
The potential of Chrome being weakened or spun off comes as rivals such as Microsoft, ChatGPT and Perplexity put generative artificial intelligence (AI) to work fetching information from the internet in response to user queries.
Google is among the tech companies investing heavily to be a leader in AI, and is weaving the technology into search and other online offerings.
