TMTPOST -- Artificial intelligence   ( AI )   startup Perplexity AI,   In.,   appears   to   make   an aggresive attempt to   strengthen   its   AI-powered online   search   business.

Credit：SearchEngine Journal

Perplexity on Tuesday made   an unsolicited   $34.5 billion   bid   for Google ’ s Chrome browser, the most popular   web browser in the world,   the Wall   Street Journal   reported the same day.   The company told   the media   outlet that   several investors including large venture-capital funds had agreed to back the transaction in full.

Perplexity   later   Tuesday confirmed to CNBC about its   $34.5 billion bid   for Chrome. The offer was such a surprising one that it is significantly more than Perplexity ’ s own valuation. The developer   of   a   free   AI-powered   answer   engine   in   July was valued   at   $18   billion as part of an extension that valued the company at $14 billion months earlier.

In a letter to Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and   its parent Alphabet   Inc., Perplexity said moving Chrome to an independent operator committed to user safety would benefit the public. It also told the   Google boss   that, as part of the proposed takeover, it would maintain and support Chromium, the open-source project that supports Chrome and other browsers. It also said that it would continue placing Google as the default search engine within Chrome, though users could change settings,per the Wall   Street Journal.

Perplexity ’ s bid marks an "important commitment to the open web, user choice, and continuity for everyone who has chosen Chrome,"   a   company ’ s spokesperson told BBC. The   startup   didn ’ t respond   to queries   about how the proposed acquisition would be funded.

Google didn ’ t comment on Perplexity ’ s bid.   The   tech   giant   has not announced any   plan to   sell   Chrome.

The bid   was deemed   as an   attempt   to take   advantage   of uncertainty over a   pending ruling   of a   Google ’ s antitrust   case.  

The U.S. government in 2020 filed its landmark case, alleging that Google controlled the general search market by creating strong barriers to entry and a feedback loop that sustained its dominance. A federal U.S. judge in   August,   2024   ruled    Google has illegally held a monopoly in its   core   market of internet search.  

The U.S. Department of Justice ( DOJ )   in November called for Google to divest Chrome, forcing the   company   to create   a more   equal playing   field for   search competitors. The divestiture   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 department   said in a filling.

In response   to the DOJ ’ s calling, Google said the   department   was pushing "a radical interventionist agenda that would harm Americans and America ’ s global technology leadership,"   and the "wildly overbroad   proposal goes miles beyond the Court ’ s decision."