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Perplexity Makes Longshot $34.5B Offer for Chrome
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- bko 1y agoI have a sense this is one of those issues that people don't know how they should feel, but some narrative of how we as enlightened technologists should feel will form. On one hand, people don't like Google owning chrome as they have a huge influence on open web and they're essentially an ad company On the other hand, if in the hands of an AI company, this could mean using your data for models, VC incentives, less open in general. Perplexity doesn't have a money printing machine to forever subsidize a browser. It'll be interesting which narrative wins out.
- rvz 1y agoThis is not a serious offer. Even if it was, is a low-ball one for a browser like Chrome. (Why did they choose that figure given they know they don't have the money). Also they do not have anywhere close to having the money or stock value to buy it. So this is just for attention grabbing for the headlines. Move along now, nothing to see here.
- sudenmorsian 1y agoIf there was any company that I would trust less with a web browser (and related user data) than an ad-tech company, it would be an AI company.
- spandrew 1y agoA social media ad company would be the least favourable. At least Google's central ad business is based off of search queries the user gives to them willingly for value.
- athenot 1y agoI think google amasses far more information via website analytics, Gmail and SSO (Log in with Google) than "willingly"-input search queries.
- marcosdumay 1y agoThey have no lack of attempts to change their central business into a social media ad company, tough. They just failed.
- rpgbr 1y agoThis was the case, like, 20 years ago. Google is effectively an ad company that makes tech — including a browser — to gather more data from users and sell ads.
- Zambyte 1y agoPerplexity is also an ad-tech company.
- lukaslevert 1y agoThat has yet to do any successful ads at scale**
- Zambyte 1y agoI would be extremely surprised if they don't get kickback through their existing shopping features. It's just well integrated, so it doesn't look like advertisements.
- mrweasel 1y agoBasically anyone who would want to make an offer for Chrome should be banned for purchasing it. It's not a profitable business to be in, and Perplexity would just do the exact same thing that might force Google to sell Chrome. The only companies that should be allowed to buy Chrome are non-profits and companies promising to sell it for a fee (preferably not a subscription).
- jnamaya 1y agoPerhaps they should invest in tech support instead. I just spent a few days talking to a AI bot about an invoice issue I had.
- tuesdaynight 1y agoThese marketing stunts from Perplexity made me stop using their product. For me, it's an indicator that they don't believe in their product, so there's no reason for me to do it either.
- giancarlostoro 1y agoAre they truly marketing stunts? I mean I guess they could just fork Chromium instead.
- minimaxir 1y agoPerplexity made a similar longshot offer for TikTok at the peak of that controversy, so yes it's a stunt: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/01/18/perplexity-ai-makes-a-bid-to-merge-with-tiktok-us.html https://www.cnbc.com/2025/01/18/perplexity-ai-makes-a-bid-to...
- firloop 1y agoThey've already forked Chromium. https://www.perplexity.ai/comet https://www.perplexity.ai/comet
- rvz 1y agoYes they are. They did it with their bid to buy TikTok which went no where. Perplexity already has a browser. At this point, this is complete desperation from them for attention.
- spandrew 1y agoNot me — Perplexity is so much better than Google. This troll bid made me laugh
- nickthegreek 1y agoi really enjoy perplexity. i recommend taking advantage of one of the o2 resale deals out there so that its like $7/yr instead of $240 and let the VCs eat the rest. I don’t know of any better ai access deals out there. It’s absurd and unsustainable.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- tzury 1y agoYet another cheap PR stunt.
- riku_iki 1y agoWhy would they pay so much money for Chrome? They could just fork chromium for free? 34B is just for web address?
- svantana 1y agoI'm guessing the installed user base make up the bulk of the value.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- warkdarrior 1y agoAfter selling Chrome to Perplexity, Google could just announce the end of life for Google Chrome, without an upgrade path. Then it's up to Perplexity to get these users to install Perplexity Chrome.
- IncreasePosts 1y agoI'm sure part of the sale terms would be gracefully handing over control
- jlokier 1y agoFor the users, via the Chrome brand, and via being pre-installed on Chromebooks and Android. By far most users run Chrome, not Chromium forks, and this would continue after a competent acquisition. Whoever owns Chrome decides exactly what software most users run for web browsing, decides future web standards in practice, decides which kinds of extensions most users can use, decides the limits and carve-outs of adblockers, codecs and web features, has all the telemetry, and in future decides what AI-driven "presentational" modifications to web pages will be done, and what semantic scraping and uploading will happen automatically in the browser.
- Ferret7446 1y agoIf Google loses Chrome though, it will no longer be pre-installed on Chromebooks and Android. They will just fork Chromium, call it something else, and pre-install that. Sure they might lose some Windows users who miss the news reports and don't install the replacement and keep using Chrome, until their bookmark sync stops working since that relies on proprietary Google account integration.
- jrecursive 1y agoNAL, but IMO it's legal & political maneuvering. DOJ asked Judge Mehta to consider forcing divestiture of Chrome after Google was found to illegally maintained a search monopoly. If it's determined the divestiture is feasible, especially with an existing more-or-less "credible buyer" at the ready, it looks executable. The offer is basically crafted to fit the DOJ/regulator concerns, ie everything is build around "least disruptive": keeping Google the default search engine, etc. Furthermore, just by doing this, they are putting ideas out there about what an "acceptable buyer" is and puts a number to the discussion about "what Chrome is worth". Purely remedies chess and an attempt to own the narrative. Google's going to say no, at least as-is, but this certainly throws a wrench in the works. Lots more moves to be made.
- onlyrealcuzzo 1y agoUnless Google is banned from providing a browser entirely, they'll just re-fork Webkit and release another browser, and it will very quickly replace Chrome usage. Especially on Android - which is the most used OS in the world. It seems strange to ban Google from offering a Search Engine, when all the other big tech companies can get into any field just fine, but the legal system is primarily a weapon for corruption these days, so who knows. I mean, sure, if you want to start limiting what big companies do, and there's some fairness in how it's applied, fine. But that's not what will happen.
- bigmadshoe 1y agoGoogle pretty clearly has a monopoly on search though, and their ownership of Android + the #1 web browser in the world maintains this. I don't think a new fork of Webkit would change this argument.
- dismalaf 1y agoLet's not forget that during the trial it was established that Bing's top search is "google"... MS literally forces Edge and Bing on users yet they'll seek out Google and Chrome.
- gorfian_robot 1y agoin case you missed it, Perplexity is now in bed with Trump https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/trump-ai-truth-search-perplexity-chatbot-b2805878.html https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/trump-ai-truth-search-per...
- demarq 1y agoThe link seems to suggest they provide services to Trump but hilariously not to his benefit at all.
- aliljet 1y agoFor the simple minded among us, can someone explain why this would be worth 34.5 billion dollars? Wouldn't the fork (https://www.perplexity.ai/comet https://www.perplexity.ai/comet) be sufficient?
- ygjb 1y agoAt an estimated 3.45 billion Chrome users across virtually all platforms, that places the value of a Chrome user at $10. Anyone can fork a browser (and many unqualified or underfunded teams do), but acquiring control of the primary surface for Internet access of nearly half the planet? $34.5B seems pretty cheap.
- taylorius 1y agoChrome has a slightly higher installed base than comet.
- IncreasePosts 1y agoThe same reason Elon bought twitter for $40B or whatever. The tech isn't worth that - the audience is(or, might be)
- dismalaf 1y agoThe users and data is what everyone wants. Which is scary because Google at least doesn't sell data (they just match contextual ads to users), whereas any company that purchases Chrome no doubt will.
- internet_points 1y agoIf they buy Chrome, they can change the default search on a web browser used by half the planet.
- fsflover 1y agoBut will it be legal?
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- ViktorRay 1y ago[flagged]
- jarym 1y ago"The AI says I should raise $34.5 billion from investors and make a bid for Google's browser." I wonder if they've thought about what it'll cost to keep Chrome dominant as a platform including the effort that goes into securing it on an ongoing basis!
- mrweasel 1y agoI was thinking the same thing. If they have to raise money to buy Chrome, can they afford the development teams?
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- tinyhouse 1y agoPerplexity are trying to find their place so they try whatever they can. Web search, shopping search, finance search, browser, deep research, anything. They were first to do a good job on web search but ChatGPT and Claude caught up and now Perplexity, who doesn't have their own family of models like the other two, is shooting in the dark.
- add-sub-mul-div 1y agoIf they think it's worth that much, ask yourself about how they plan to profit from it. Imagine a browser (or any tech) that delivers seamless and undisclosed advertising and narrative through conversational interface. Why wouldn't that be an endgame of LLMs?
- chollida1 1y agoA $14B to $18B dollar company offering an all stock deal worth about 2x as much as its market cap. This isn't a serious offer, its a publicity stunt. Google would effectively own the entire company short of some mind blowing multiple expansion here. Watch for Perplexity to be raising money in the next 6 months. But given this stunt it looks like they think their growth is over and they've peaked as a company.
- zazar 1y agoMuch like this offer, Perplexity is a shallow gimmick.
- fsflover 1y agoAnd your comment is a shallow dismissal, which is against the HN guidelines.
- 1oooqooq 1y agoif i were google I'd marc jacobs them. get the money, then turn around and release chromium by Google.
- unmole 1y ago> get the money What money? Perplexity's latest valuation is ~18 billion USD.
- beoberha 1y agoAnyone here use perplexity? I’ve tried numerous times, but once you get over the flashy UI, it feels like a lot of fluff.
- breadwinner 1y agoI am a fan. Because it is search based, I see a lot less hallucination, and it always provides links so you can click the link to verify the information.
- Esophagus4 1y agoI am a pretty regular user - I’ve found it to be helpful, and a better way of searching the web for answers. But I also haven’t used Google in years (I switched to other search engines) so their AI might be just as good. Perplexity also has overlap with ChatGPT’s web search, but Perplexity is faster for me.
- saratogacx 1y agoI find myself using it more and more as time goes on. I got one of those year long deals so I'm not really too invested in the cost but the overall experience is not bad. You get several models you can use (albeit they're not quite as powerful as their branded versions directly). you can setup projects and most other features you come to expect. They do a good job with search though which is kind of their core value prop. They summarize well, cite sources, and have largely been pretty accurate with their findings. Being able to start a research task and provide more info and context while it is running is nice too for that "oh, I forgot about this!" moment. With the pro sub you also get $5 in api credits a month so there's that.
- __rito__ 1y agoEven during ChatGPT peak, when HN was buzzing with every other post being how ChatGPT/other LLM product replaced Google for them, I could not honestly switch, or meaningfully reduce my Google usage. Until Perplexity. It was the AI product that actually reduced my Google usage. Even with AI mode directly built into Google homepage now, Perplexity is still better. It has basically zero hallucination, each para/entry backed by a URL, and lower latentcy than any other LLM product. I don't know why you find it bad. I use it daily, and for serious searches. It has fundamentally changed the way I search the web/ask questions in the web. One particular way: I can now combine multiple subsequent searches into one. And I can trust the results.
- xnx 1y agoVery disappointing that legitimate news organizations are giving this joke story coverage: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/12/technology/perplexity-google-chrome-bid.html https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/12/technology/perplexity-goo... Maybe Gamestop, PeTA, or Roblox should make an offer next.
- cesarvarela 1y agoAren't people just asking Claude and/or Gpt to do web searches instead? I had for quite some time only relied on o3 pro for every query and it always defaulted to web search so hallucination rate was (seemingly) very low. Now I'm using Claude more and he (it?) needs to be reminded that it he has a web saerch tool but other than that it works great.
- ac130kz 1y agoAre they out of their minds? How can a tiny startup without their own actual product (nowadays anyone can strap OpenAI/Anthropic API or fork open source models, such as Deepseek, on top of web scraping) buy the largest browser used by billions made by a company making trillions?
- internetter 1y agoIt’s simple, they can’t. This is a publicity stunt
- gausswho 1y agoI still don't understand how forcing Google to sell Chrome achieves any of the regulator's goals. The only piece that matters is how Google controls both ends of the advertising market. I wouldn't be surprised if Google is ushering this penalty because its a public slap on the wrist that they can go home laughing about. Why buy Chrome anyway? Put that $34.5 billion into a team that forks and develops Chromium. Ban Google from developing browsers as well as paying for search preference in other browsers.