Perplexity Offers $34.5bn for Google’s Chrome Amidst Antitrust Pressure

Google unequivocally maintains that Chrome is not up for sale, yet Perplexity has extended a $34.5 billion acquisition proposal nonetheless.

Established just three years ago, the cutting-edge AI company’s ambitious bid to acquire the globally renowned web browser comes amidst Google facing intensifying scrutiny from U.S antitrust authorities. The recent court ruling in April 2025 by Judge Amit Mehta, which found Google guilty of maintaining an illicit search monopoly, may have prompted Perplexity to initiate a sale that Google might find hard to refuse.

In their correspondence to Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, Perplexity asserted that their offer is aimed at serving “the greater public interest” by transferring control of Chrome to “capable and independent” hands.