Recently attended the U.S. Department of JusticeLawsuit alleging Google violates market monopolyAfter Perplexity.ai's Chief Business Officer Dmitry Shevelenko said that if the court ruled that Google must spin off the Chrome browser business, Perplexity.ai would be interested in taking over, related news indicated that Perplexity.ai had received full funding from investors and planned to acquire the Chrome browser business at a price higher than the market value.
The Wall Street Journal reportedPerplexity.ai has secured full funding from several major venture capital funds and investors, planning to acquire Google's Chrome browser business for a staggering $345 billion. This sum not only exceeds market estimates of Chrome's market value, which range from $200 billion to $500 billion, but is also nearly double Perplexity.ai's $180 billion valuation. This ambitious acquisition, like a "snake swallowing an elephant," has drawn significant market attention.
Judging from Perplexity.ai's past development, it has always shown strong intentions in online advertising and browser businesses. Not only did it launch its own browser "Comet", it also tried to provide highly customized advertising services by tracking users' all-round online behavior. Therefore, the proposal to acquire the Chrome browser business is seen by the outside world as a strategic move to further enter the browser market.
At a recent lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice accusing Google of violating market monopoly rules, Perplexity.ai's Chief Business Officer, Dmitry Shevelenko, stated that if the court forces Google to split its Chrome browser business, Perplexity.ai would be interested in taking over. He also emphasized that he could continue to maintain subsequent updates for the Chrome browser in the market without compromising service quality or charging any fees.
However, Dmitry Shevelenko is not happy to see Google's Chrome browser business being split and sold. When testifying in court, he also said that he does not want OpenAI to take over the Chrome business. He is mainly worried that if OpenAI no longer promises to provide subsequent updates to the Chrome browser open source project Chromium, or no longer maintains its open source model, it may cause a lot of impact.
However, the market believes that the probability of the court ultimately ordering Google to split the Chrome browser business is not high. It is more likely that the court will restrict the high-priced pre-set search engine agreements signed by Google with companies such as Apple and Mozilla, or require Google to open more data to competitors, thereby reducing market competition.
