Perplexity Makes Longshot $34.5 Billion Offer for Chrome

Artificial-intelligence startup Perplexity on Tuesday offered to purchase Google’s Chrome browser for $34.5 billion as it works to challenge the tech giant’s web-search dominance.

Perplexity’s offer is significantly more than its own valuation, which is estimated at $18 billion. The company told The Wall Street Journal that several investors including large venture-capital funds had agreed to back the transaction in full.

A spokesperson for Google declined to comment on the offer.

Estimates of Chrome’s enterprise value vary widely but recent ones have ranged from $20 billion to $50 billion.