Perplexity’s $34.5B Chrome Bid: A Drop in Google’s Ocean—Or a Power Move?

Another day, another tech giant throwing billions at relevance. Perplexity’s audacious $34.5 billion play for Chrome isn’t just a check—it’s a Hail Mary in the browser wars.

Why it matters: Control the gateway, control the traffic. But in Google’s empire, that’s couch-cushion money.

The cynical take: Somewhere in Mountain View, a CFO stifles a laugh while approving the ‘strategic partnership’ slide deck. Meanwhile, Perplexity’s backers pray this isn’t another WeWork moment dressed in AI buzzwords.

Bottom line: In tech’s monopoly game, $34.5B might buy you Park Place—but Boardwalk’s still held by the house.

Image source: Getty Images.

Alphabet has other options than selling Google Chrome today

The reason why Perplexity offered to buy Google Chrome is simple: A federal court ruled that Google is operating an illegal monopoly in the advertising space, and selling off Google Chrome was one of the remedies that a federal district court is considering. 

If the final remedy is to sell off Google Chrome, there are still a couple of courts that Alphabet can appeal to, including a federal appeals court and the Supreme Court. We're still a long way from finding out the conclusion of the Alphabet monopoly saga, and for Alphabet to sell Google Chrome this early WOULD be giving up.

Furthermore, CEO Sundar Pichai and Alphabet haven't shown any interest in selling Google Chrome, and its lawyers argued that forcing a Chrome sale would have potential national security implications.

Whether that is true or not is beside the point; Google Chrome is an important part of how Alphabet gathers data for ads, and it does not want another company to have control over it. As a result, there's likely no amount of money that Alphabet will agree to sell Google Chrome for unless it has exhausted all other options.

But what will happen next?

A bidding war may erupt over Google Chrome

If Perplexity made an offer, you can bet that other generative AI start-ups such as OpenAI will be quick to follow. An OpenAI executive has already testified to the court that it would be open to buying Chrome, and there are likely other companies in a similar position. Although it may be a meaningless bidding war for reasons laid out above, I wouldn't be surprised to see more offers flood in.

I'd also be shocked if Alphabet actually considered any of them, but anything is possible.

If Alphabet were to agree to a buyout offer, that would likely indicate that Alphabet already has another browser developed and ready to go to replace Chrome. The information it gains by being a default search engine is massive, and that's an advantage that Google won't easily give up, whether it's for $34.5 billion or $100 billion.

We're just in the beginning stages of finding out what will happen with Google Chrome. While this may kick off a round of bids, I'd be surprised if anything is done over the next few years, as there is still a long process of appeals that will continue with Alphabet seeking to maintain control over Google Chrome.