Perplexity just made a move no one saw coming. The AI-powered search startup has formally offered $34.5 billion to acquire Chrome, Google’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) market-dominating browser. The timing? Not a coincidence. A U.S. judge is days away from ruling on remedies for Google’s alleged monopoly in searchand one possible outcome is a forced Chrome spinoff. Perplexity’s unsolicited bid was sent Tuesday morning and, according to the company, is fully backed by unnamed institutional investors. That claim raised eyebrows, given the company’s most recent valuation was $18 billion. But Chief Business Officer Dmitry Shevelenko says the deal is already fully financed.
This isn’t the first time Perplexity has tried to get ahead of regulatory pressure. The company also submitted a proposal to merge with TikTok’s U.S. operations earlier this year, as ByteDance faced a looming ban. The broader strategy seems clear: stake a claim in major internet assets before regulators force a breakup. If the Chrome deal were to go through, Perplexity says it would invest $3 billion over the next two years, retain key Chrome personnel, and roll out no hidden changes to the productaiming to signal stability to users and advertisers alike. The company also teased its own browser, Comet, powered by an integrated AI agent.
Still, not everyone’s buying it. Colin Sebastian of Baird called the $34.5 billion figure far too lowestimating Chrome’s true value closer to $100 billion. He also doubts a breakup will even happen, citing risks of degraded product quality and the technical mess of detangling Chrome from Google’s ecosystem. Google, for its part, hasn’t commented on the offer, but it’s preparing to appeal any forced divestment and has floated a softer fix: changing default search settings across Apple, Mozilla, and Android. Whether the court agreesor whether Perplexity’s bold play becomes anything more than a headlineremains to be seen.
This article first appeared on GuruFocus.