AI Startup Perplexity Seeks Google Chrome Buy For $34B: Report

AI search engine startup Perplexity has reportedly offered Google $34.5 billion to buy Chrome after the U.S. government last year proposed that Google divest its popular web browser following an antitrust lawsuit.

After the U.S. Department of Justice proposed Google sell its Chrome business last year, AI startup Perplexity is reportedly seeking to purchase the world’s most popular web browser for $34.5 billion.

AI-powered search engine startup Perplexity has raised about $1 billion from big-name investors like Nvidia and SoftBank since being founded in 2022.

The San Francisco-based startup released its own AI-powered web browser, Comet, while the company was recently valued at around $18 billion.

CRN has reached out to both Google and Perplexity for comment. The news of Perplexity offering to purchase Google’s Chrome browser was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

The Journal said Perplexity told Google that its offer to purchase Chrome was designed to satisfy the U.S. government’s “antitrust remedy in highest public interest by placing Chrome with a capable, independent operator.”

Purchasing Chrome would enable Perplexity to tap into the web browser’s more than 3 billion users.

The DOJ Vs. Google Case

Last year, the Department of Justice officially requested that Google be forced to sell Chrome and potentially its Android business, claiming that the $384 billion tech giant created a monopoly in general search services and search text advertising through anti-competitive practices.

The move to divest Chrome would seek to weaken Google’s dominance in web search.

U.S. District Court of Columbia Judge Amit Mehta ruled that Google had “unlawfully maintained” and protected its search monopoly through exclusive agreements with Samsung, Motorola and others to have Chrome installed on devices.

“Google has manipulated its control of Chrome and Android to benefit itself, while sharing monopoly profits under conditions to induce third parties across the ecosystem to help Google maintain its monopolies,” said the DOJ in its filing in November 2024. “The playing field is not level because of Google’s conduct, and Google’s quality reflects the ill-gotten gains of an advantage illegally acquired. … The remedy must close this gap and deprive Google of these advantages.”

Google is appealing the judge’s ruling. A federal judge is expected to weigh in on specific measures later in August.

Perplexity’s Proposal To Buy Google Chrome

Perplexity’s proposal reportedly includes maintaining Chrome’s open-source Chromium code, as well as placing Google as the default search engine within Chrome.

Multiple investment firms have reportedly expressed willingness to back Perplexity’s $34.5 billion acquisition in, although the Journal did not disclose names.

Google parent company Alphabet generated $96 billion in revenue during the second quarter of 2025, representing an increase of 14 percent year over year. Operating income for the second quarter was $31 billion, an increase from $27 billion in second-quarter 2024.