Perplexity has offered to buy the Chrome browser. A court may order Google to sell it

Artificial intelligence developer Perplexity has unexpectedly offered to buy the Chrome browser from tech giant Google. The amount it offered is almost double the valuation of the startup itself. The unsolicited initiative may be an attempt to signal to a judge who may order Alphabet to sell the browser by the end of the month to restore competition in the market. Forcing the sale of Chrome would be a "black swan" for the search engine's parent company, Alphabet, whose shares could lose up to 25% of their value, Barclays previously warned.

Perplexity sent a letter to Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai on August 12 offering to buy the Chrome browser for $34.5 billion, The Wall Street Journal reports. In the letter, the startup promised that in the case of a deal, Google would remain the default search engine in Chrome, although users would be able to change the settings individually.

The amount Perplexity offered for Chrome is almost double the startup's own valuation. In the last round, Perplexity was valued at $18 billion. The startup told WSJ that several investors, including large venture capital funds, are ready to finance the deal.

Estimates of Chrome's value range from $20 billion to $50 billion.

In 2024, Google lost an important antitrust trial against the US government. The court at the suit of the Ministry of Justice found the company guilty of monopolizing the search engine market. In August, the court is expected to decide what actions the technology giant should take to eliminate its monopoly position and restore competition in the market. The U.S. government is demanding that the company be required to sell the browser it owns. Chrome accounts for more than 60% of the global browser market and is used by about 3.5 billion people worldwide.

Perplexity's surprise offer to buy Chrome may be an attempt to signal to a judge that there is an interested buyer if the browser is put up for sale, the WSJ writes. In a letter to Alphabet's CEO, the startup said its offer "seeks to satisfy antitrust requirements in the highest public interest by transferring Chrome to a competent and independent operator."

Google, in turn, has not expressed any willingness to sell Chrome. Earlier in court, Pichai said that forcing him to sell the browser or share data with competitors would harm Google's business, prevent the company from investing in new technologies and potentially create security risks.

Analysts believe that the court is unlikely to oblige Google to sell Chrome, writes WSJ. But if it does happen, Alphabet's shares could plummet by 15-25%, a Barclays analyst warned in June.

"This would be a significant event, a black swan for Alphabet stock," the analyst wrote. - The stock would obviously fall sharply if the scenario materializes, as no investor we spoke to thinks such an outcome is likely."

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor