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Perplexity AI’s bid on Tuesday to buy Google’s Chrome browser for $34.5 billion represents a dramatic moment for the internet search giant, a week before it celebrates the 20th anniversary of its IPO.
Even if analysts aren’t taking the offer very seriously, Perplexity’s move marks a turning point. It’s the first time an outside party has made such a public and specific effort to strip out a key piece of Google, which is currently awaiting a judge’s decision on whether it must take significant divestiture steps following a ruling last year that the company has held a monopoly in its core search market.
The ruling was widely viewed as the most important antitrust decision in the tech industry since the case against Microsoft more than two decades ago. The U.S. Department of Justice, which filed the landmark case against Google in 2020, indicated after its victory in court that it was considering a possible breakup of Google as an antitrust remedy.
Soon after that, the DOJ explicitly called for Google to divest Chrome to create a more equal playing field for search competitors. As is, Google bundles search and other services into Chrome and preinstalls the browser on Chromebooks. Google Legal Chief Kent Walker said in response to the DOJ that its “approach would result in unprecedented government overreach” and would harm the country’s effort to maintain economic and tech leadership.
