Perplexity's PR Stunt: $34.5B Chrome Bid to Rival Big Tech
AI startup Perplexity is making headlines with an audacious, unsolicited $34.5 billion all-cash offer for Google’s widely used Chrome web browser, a move largely perceived as a high-profile PR stunt aimed at elevating its standing alongside established tech giants. The bid, which surfaced as a U.S. court weighs potential antitrust action that could compel Google to divest Chrome, vastly exceeds Perplexity’s own reported valuation of $18 billion.
This isn’t Perplexity’s first foray into attention-grabbing maneuvers. Earlier this year, the company reportedly explored a merger with TikTok’s U.S. operations, another bold proposal that ultimately did not materialize. These actions underscore a clear strategy: to generate significant buzz and position Perplexity as a serious contender in the competitive AI and search landscape.
The timing of the Chrome offer is particularly strategic, coinciding with a U.S. District judge’s consideration of remedies following a ruling that Google illegally monopolized online search. Federal prosecutors have advocated for a sale of Chrome, arguing it has fortified Google’s dominance. Perplexity, in a letter to Google CEO Sundar Pichai, stated its bid was “designed to satisfy an antitrust remedy” by placing Chrome with “a capable, independent operator.” While Google has not indicated any willingness to sell Chrome and plans to appeal the antitrust ruling, Perplexity’s offer, backed by unnamed investors including large venture capital funds, aims to signal to the court that a viable buyer exists should a forced divestiture occur.
Perplexity, known for its AI-powered search engine that provides concise answers with citations, views browsers as crucial control points for the next era of “agentic search” and online advertising. Acquiring Chrome, with its over three billion users and more than 60% global browser market share, would grant Perplexity “the front door to the internet” and a massive advantage in collecting web-scale behavioral data to train its search engine. The company has even pledged to keep Chrome’s Chromium engine open source and invest $3 billion over two years, while surprisingly maintaining Google as the default search engine, albeit with user choice.
Despite the audacious nature of the bid, many industry observers see it as primarily a well-executed marketing exercise. Perplexity’s CEO, Aravind Srinivas, appears to be leveraging such “stunts” to secure “free press” and boost brand recognition in a market crowded with rivals like OpenAI and xAI. While the likelihood of the sale materializing is widely considered non-existent, the offer effectively highlights Perplexity’s ambitions and its determination to disrupt the status quo in the AI-driven internet landscape. The company’s prior dispute with Cloudflare over alleged “stealth crawling” further illustrates its aggressive approach to data acquisition and market presence. These bold maneuvers, whether genuine acquisition attempts or strategic PR, underscore the intense competition and evolving dynamics shaping the future of online search and browsing.