Artificial Intelligence (AI) Start-Up Perplexity has surprised the $ 34.5BN (£ 25.6BN) takeover bid for Google’s Chrome Internet browser.
The public would benefit from taking Chrome to an independent operator committed to user safety, Perplexity said that the owner of Google has been called in a letter to the Boss Sundar Pichai, the boss of the alphabet.
But an investor at a technology industry called The Offer “stunt”, which is much lower than the actual value of Chrome and highlighted that it is not clear whether the platform would be for sale.
The BBC has approached Google for comment. The firm has not announced any plan to sell Chrome – an estimated three billion -plus users with the world’s most popular web browser.
Google’s discovery engine and online advertising market dominance has come under the scope of intensive investigation, with a legislative company of the technology, legally working as part of two no -confidence cases.
An American federal judge is expected to issue a decision this month that Google may be ordered to break his search business.
The company has said that it would appeal to such a decision, saying that the idea of spinning with Chrome was an “unprecedented proposal” that would harm consumers and safety.
A spokesman for Perplexity told the BBC that its bid marks a significant commitment for the open web, the user’s choice and continuity for all, who have chosen Chrome. “
As part of the proposed acquisition, Perplexity stated that it would continue Google as a default search engine within Chrome, although users can accommodate their settings.
The firm stated that 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 deal would be funded. In July, its estimated value was $ 18bn.
The technology industry investor and start-up founder Heath Ahrens did not say the step of the perplexity “stunts, and the actual value of Chrome, looking at its unmatched data and access.”
He said, “This proposal is not serious, but if someone like Sam Altman or Alone Musk has tripled it, they can really secure dominance for their AI,” he said.
It is also not clear whether Google is considering selling the platform, Tunguj, the theory Ventures, told the BBC.
He also said that this proposal is much lower than the browser “the value of chrome is much higher – perhaps ten times more valuable than bid or more.”
Perplexity’s app is one of the growing players in the tribal AI race, with more famous platforms like Chatgpt of Openai and Google’s Gemini.
Last month, it launched an AI-in-operated browser named Comat.
The company made headlines after offering to purchase the US version of Tikok earlier this year, which faces the deadline for being sold by its Chinese owner in September or being banned in the US.
Perplexity has allegedly taken interest in technology giants including Apple and Facebook-Malik Meta.
