Perplexity Offers $34.5 Billion for Google Chrome

Google faces the possibility it will have to sell its Chrome browser depending on what a federal judge decides. (Gabby Jones/Bloomberg)

Artificial-intelligence start-up Perplexity AI has offered to buy Google’s Chrome browser for $34.5 billion.

Although that amount is larger than Perplexity’s own $18 billion valuation, the company told The Wall Street Journal that several investors including large venture-capital funds have agreed to back the transaction in full.

“For us this is an important commitment to the open web, user choice, and continuity for everyone who has chosen Chrome,” Perplexity spokesperson Jesse Dwyer told Barron’s.

In a six-page letter to Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas outlined the idea. “This proposal is designed to satisfy an antitrust remedy in highest public interest by placing Chrome with a capable, independent operator focused on continuity, openness, and consumer protection.”

Alphabet -owned Google awaits word from a federal judge on what remedies it has to take after the court ruled it monopolized the search business. Google has said it will appeal the ruling, but one possible remedy would be a sale of Chrome.

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta ruled last August that Google had an illegal monopoly over internet search and is widely expected to issue a decision this month on how to restore competition.

The Justice Department urged the judge this spring to force Google to sell its Chrome web browser.

Lee-Anne Mulholland, Google’s vice president of regulatory affairs, told Barron’s last November that being forced to spin off Chrome or Android would “harm consumers, developers and American technological leadership at precisely the moment it is most needed.”

In the letter outlining the proposed deal, Perplexity committed to “maintaining, supporting, and promoting Chromium” as the open-source project that underlies many web browsers. It also said it supports browser choice, will let users always choose their own default settings, and will “make no stealth modifications to a user’s default search engine in Chrome.”

Perplexity offered to invest $3 billion over 24 months for reliability, performance, security, and customer support, and to maintain “uninterrupted availability and support for existing customers for at least 100 months post-close.”

The company also said it would extend offers to a “substantial portion of designated key personnel and implement retention programs to preserve expertise and continuity.”

Barron’s owner Dow Jones has sued Perplexity for copyright infringement.

Write to Janet H. Cho at janet.cho@dowjones.com