The artificial intelligence start-up (AI) has made a surprise takeover offer of $ 34.5 billion (25.6 billion sterling pounds) for the Google Chrome Internet browser.
The movement of Chrome to an independent operator engaged in user safety would benefit the public, said Perplexity in a letter to Sundar Pichai, the owner of the owner of Google Alphabet.
But an investor of the technological industry qualified the offer a “blow” which is much lower than the real value of chrome and stressed that it is not clear if the platform is even on sale.
The BBC contacted Google to comment. The company has not intended to sell Chrome – the most popular web browser in the world with approximately more than three billion users.
Google domination over the search engine and the online advertising market has been the subject of a meticulous examination, the technology giant being involved in years of legal argument within the framework of two antitrust cases.
An American federal judge is expected to make a decision this month which could see Google order to break its research activities.
The company said it would call on such a decision, saying that the idea of running Chrome was an “unprecedented proposal” that would harm consumers and security.
A spokesperson for Perplexity told the BBC that its supply brand “an important commitment to the open web, the choice of users and continuity for all those who have chosen Chrome”.
As part of the proposed takeover, Perplexity said it would continue to have Google as default search engine in Chrome, although users can adjust their settings.
The firm said it would also maintain and support Chromium, a widely used open source platform that supports Chrome and other browsers, including Microsoft Edge and Opera.
Perplexity did not answer questions about how the proposed agreement is funded. In July, he had an estimated value of $ 18 billion.
The investor of the technological industry and founder of start-up, Heath Ahrens, described the decision of Perplexity as “stuntman, and far from the true value of Chrome, taking into account his data and his unrivaled scope”.
“The offer is not serious, but if someone like Sam Altman or Elon Musk has tripled it, they could really obtain domination for their AI,” he added.
It is not clear either if Google plans to sell the platform, Tomasz Tunguz from Theory Ventures said at the BBC.
He also said that the offer is much lower than the browser was worth “since Chrome value is probably considerably higher – perhaps ten times more precious than supply or more”.
Perplexity application is among the rising players in the AI generative race, alongside more well-known platforms as Openai Chatgpt and Google Gemini.
Last month, he launched a browser fed by AI called Comet.
The company made the headlines earlier this year after proposing to buy the American version of Tiktok, which faces a deadline in September to be sold by its Chinese owner or be banished in the United States.
Perplexity would have aroused the interest of technology giants, notably Apple and the owner of Facebook Meta.
