What you need to know
- Search.com bids $35B for Google Chrome, topping Perplexity’s $34.5B offer.
- Search.com plans cashback, no ads, and revenue sharing if it acquires Chrome.
- Google faces antitrust battles that could force the sale of Chrome.
The race to buy Chrome from Google seems to be heating up. After Perplexity offered Google $34.5 billion to acquire the world’s most-used web browser earlier this week, another buyer has now put their name in the hat.
Search.com, one of the new AI-based search engines gaining attention, has announced it topped Perplexity’s offer with a $35 billion bid for Google Chrome. Unlike Perplexity, which did not disclose its backers — despite being valued at less than half its bid — Search.com confirmed its bid is “backed by JP Morgan.”
Search.com says over 65% of the world’s population uses Google Chrome, and embedding AI into the browser must be “equitable” as it could determine how more than 3 billion people access information in the future.
The company says that if the bid goes through, Search.com – owned Chrome will offer users cash back for using the browser. It also said it would end the “ad-cluttered web experience” and offer publishers revenue sharing, which has been a long-standing issue since the rise of AI tools like Perplexity and AI Mode in Google Search.
Similar to Perplexity’s bid, Google hasn’t commented on Search.com’s offer yet. The Mountain View giant finds itself in this position as it fights an antitrust legal battle in the U.S. that could force the divestiture of Chrome.
Last year, the DOJ took significant antitrust action against Google, ruling that Chrome illegally monopolized the search market. The DOJ explicitly called for divestiture, though Google appealed. Federal judge Amit Mehta is set to issue a ruling on remedies, though he’s unlikely to mandate a forced sale outright.
Still, with such a large user base and traffic volume, companies are lining up in case the judge rules otherwise.
This isn’t the first time companies have shown interest in buying Chrome. Alongside Perplexity, Yahoo, OpenAI, and equity firm Apollo Global Management have all expressed interest in acquiring it.