News Brief
Aravind Srinivas-Led Perplexity AI Stuns Tech World With $34.5 Billion Bid For Google’s Chrome Browser
Google office (Representative Image)
In a significant development, Perplexity AI, led by Indian-origin CEO Aravind Srinivas, has tabled an unsolicited $34.5 billion all-cash offer to acquire Google's Chrome browser.
The bid, formally sent to Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai on Tuesday (15 August), comes amid mounting antitrust pressure on Google following a US court ruling that could force the tech giant to divest Chrome to address its search monopoly.
Perplexity, founded in 2022 by Srinivas—an IIT Madras alumnus with prior stints at OpenAI and Google—and his co-founders, is valued at $18 billion as of July 2025.
The company told The Wall Street Journal that several investors including large venture-capital funds had agreed to back the transaction in full.
The AI search startup aims to leverage Chrome's over 3 billion users to bolster its AI-powered search engine, which competes directly with Google's offerings and rivals like OpenAI's ChatGPT.
The move follows the US Department of Justice's (DOJ) push for remedies in its antitrust case against Google, with a hearing slated for September 2025.
The DOJ said in a filing following the court’s decision that forcing the company to get rid of Chrome would create a more equal playing field for search competitors.
“To remedy these harms, the [Initial Proposed Final Judgment] requires Google to divest Chrome, which will permanently stop Google’s control of this critical search access point and allow rival search engines the ability to access the browser that for many users is a gateway to the internet,” the DOJ wrote.
According to the reports, other suitors, including OpenAI, Yahoo, and Apollo Global Management, have expressed interest, but Perplexity's offer stands out for its scale—more than double its own valuation.
In a letter to Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, Perplexity stated that its proposal aimed to serve “the highest public interest” by placing Chrome in “capable, independent” hands.
The company said it would continue to maintain Chromium — the open-source platform underlying Chrome and many other browsers — and pledged to keep Google as Chrome’s default search engine, while making it easy for users to change.
