Perplexity offers to buy Google Chrome browser

Author

Leo Rodman
August 18, 2025

Perplexity offers to buy Chrome for billions more than it's raised | TechCrunch

Perplexity tells TechCrunch the terms of the offer include a commitment to keep Chrome’s underlying engine, Chromium, open source and to invest $3 billion into it.

techcrunch.com/2025/08/12/perplexity-offers-to-buy-chrome-for-billions-more-than-its-raised

Perplexity just offered to buy Google Chrome. If you’re building, marketing, or publishing on the web, this is your bat-signal 🔔

On August 12, 2025, Perplexity made an unsolicited $34.5B all-cash bid for Chrome. The timing is no accident. A federal judge is expected to decide remedies this month in the Google search antitrust case, and the DOJ has floated a Chrome divestiture as a potential fix. Perplexity’s term sheet says it would keep Chromium open source, invest $3B over two years, and even keep Google as the default search engine at first.

Why would Perplexity want Chrome? Distribution. Chrome is the largest gateway to the web with 3B+ users. Owning the browser means owning the default surfaces where AI answers now appear tabs, sidebars, and in-page summaries. It is the most direct path to steer default search, capture engagement data, and ship agentic features natively in the place people already live online.

Why it matters for the industry: the browser is becoming the new battleground for AI. OpenAI and Yahoo have also signaled interest in Chrome, and more bidders are circling. If regulators force a sale or even credibly threaten one, the power map of the open web shifts from search engines to browser owners. Expect faster AI UI experiments, new defaults, and a scramble for distribution.

What to do about it now: design for answer-first experiences. Structure your content so it can be lifted cleanly into summaries. Prioritize speed, clarity, and intent alignment over keyword stuffing. Build direct channels email, community, owned apps so your reach is not solely at the mercy of browser defaults. And start testing how your product or content renders inside AI-enhanced browsers today. 🚀

Your take: if a startup ends up owning Chrome, does that make the web more open or just shift who holds the keys?

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