This is the second major offer the AI startup has made this year to buy a major asset. In January, it offered to buy TikTok.Perplexity AI said it has made a $34.5bn unsolicited all-cash offer for Alphabet’s Google Chrome browser.The deal, if Alphabet agreed to it, would also require financing above the startup’s most recently reported valuation of $18bn.The nearly three-year-old startup’s purchase of Chrome, if approved, would give the company access to its more than three billion users as regulatory pressure weighs on Google’s control over the tech industry.Perplexity did not disclose on Tuesday how it plans to fund the offer, but has raised $1bn in funding from investors including SoftBank and the semiconductor chip giant Nvidia.Several funds have said they would finance the deal in full if Alphabet accepts, the Reuters news agency reported citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter.Alphabet has not offered to sell Chrome and has planned to appeal a United States court ruling that said Google held an unlawful monopoly over the online search marketplace. The US Department of Justice has said that divestiture of Chrome would help remedy that case. A federal judge is expected to rule on remedies for the case later this month.Web browsers as vital gatewaysAs a new generation of users turns to chatbots such as ChatGPT and Perplexity for answers, web browsers are r …
