Aravind Srinivas offers Google $34.5 Billion for Chrome 

Aravind Srinivas, CEO of Perplexity, has offered Google $34,5 billion in cash for its Chrome browser. Google is facing significant antitrust pressure from the U.S. Department of Justice, which has not ruled out a forced sale of Chrome. According to a report by MSN, Perplexity positioned itself as a potential buyer with this move – hoping to gain control of the internet's most important gateway, with over three billion users. Although analysts estimate Chrome's true value to be over $50 billion, the bold proposal alone generated massive media attention for Perplexity and underscored its ambitious leadership aspirations.

However, the Chrome offer was not the company's first major maneuver. Earlier in 2025, Perplexity had already expressed interest in acquiring TikTok's U.S. operations if forced to sell by Congress. At the same time, the company pursued strategic partnerships, such as the one with Deutsche Telekom. Together, they launched the »AI Phone« in August 2025 for €149 – a smartphone that relies entirely on Perplexity's voice-activated assistant and aims to make traditional apps obsolete.

Perplexity's core product is a conversational, source-based answer engine. Unlike Google, it does not provide a list of links but instead delivers fully formulated answers backed by cited sources. The platform operates on a freemium model: a basic version is free, while more powerful models and advanced features require payment. The concept has proven successful: from 4 million active users at the end of 2023, the platform grew to over 20 million by the end of 2024.

Nevertheless, this rapid rise has not been without controversy. Media companies such as the BBC, The New York Times, and Forbes have accused Perplexity of using copyrighted content without sufficient licensing and sometimes even presenting it as its own.

Despite these legal gray areas, capital continues to flow in. In June 2025, Perplexity raised $500 million in a funding round led by investors including Nvidia, Jeff Bezos, and SoftBank. Its valuation soared to approximately $18 billion by July 2025.

MK