Breaking up Alphabet?
Perplexity AI, one of many companies trying to supplant Google as the “first stop” for AI-fueled search and research, has offered to buy Google’s Chrome browser, I guess trying to be first in line if the sale of Chrome is indeed a major remedy required by the Department of Justice to soften and disrupt Alphabet’s near-monopoly business.
We still don’t know how this will all work out, of course, this legal stuff can drag on for years and can be turned over on appeal, or lead to entirely different remedies in the end, but if I were Perplexity I’d want to own Google Chrome, too — so if that business really goes up for sale, the bidding might be fierce, given that Google Chrome is the dominant web browser, with almost 65% global market share, and can therefore immediately put you in front of roughly 3.5 billion customers (and importantly, effectively give you control of their default “search” box) with one fell swoop.
Any AI company with access to capital and ambition to grow would be silly to not bid on that, you’d think, particularly because they’re also all spending so wildly on capacity increases and earning such wild valuations from venture investors that another $50 or $100 billion might not even be noticeable. Chrome is not for sale at this point, but Perplexity has offered $34.5 billion, which would be about $10 per Chrome user. I’d say that’s ridiculously low in this environment, given the appeal of that massive user base and the lust for distribution that all the new AI companies have. It could easily be that Perplexity is mostly just messing around, fishing for attention, and trying to get a rise out of Google.
And just last week, Sam Altman confirmed that if Chrome goes up for sale, OpenAI would also be interested in taking a look. A forced sale of Chrome seems to be on the end of possible antirust remedies that might actually happen, but I’m not in the courtrooms and don’t know the arguments that are finding traction right now, so it’s entirely possible… and if it happens, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a bidding war. Even if the price soars, losing Chrome would still very likely be a net negative in reducing Google’s distribution power for search and advertising (and AI).
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