Perplexity has made an unsolicited $34.5bn offer for Google’s Chrome, as the artificial intelligence start-up positions itself as a bidder should a US court force the search giant to sell the web browser.
In a letter sent on Tuesday to Sundar Pichai, chief executive of Google parent Alphabet, Perplexity co-founder Aravind Srinivas said the offer is “designed to satisfy an antitrust remedy?.?.?.?by placing Chrome with a capable, independent operator”.
Perplexity, whose AI search tool is a rival to Google’s core product, made a similarly high-profile offer to buy TikTok for a reported $50bn earlier this year — which has not come to anything.