Finally, because Google showed no Chrome vulnerability, any sign of a second bid, and Internet records indicate the browser boasts more than three billion users worldwide. However, the bid is largely considered to be well below the actual market value of the browser by industry voices in many more ways than one, and some are even labelling it less of a legitimate offer and more about publicity.
Google's Market Dominance Under Scrutiny
Two large antitrust cases are pending against Google in the US, as well as increased regulatory investigation. A federal judge is expected to rule this month on whether the company should sell its search operation. ZDNet wrote that Google had alleged, in a way not previously witnessed, that taking Chrome out of the company would put users and security at risk.
Perplexity added that it goes on to keep Google "as the search engine is default on Chrome," and also said that it will not change anything about Chromium — namely, the open source framework which works for things like Chrome, Edge and Opera.
Perplexity and the Valley Reaction Matt Turck
The bid for the assets has already drawn scepticism from investors who noted a lack of financing that would be needed. Tech entrepreneur Heath Ahrens told me that the price is "absurdly low on a per-user basis relative to what Chrome costs if you are willing to use an analogy" and "This implies google can't give us South Pole, but instead they are trying their best to pawn off something more like South Seas without disclosing information forcing one to accept this as being fair value." A significant bid from one of those AI leaders could tip the power in this space entirely. One venture capitalist even predicted that, due to the scarcity of well-known premium domain names, Chrome could sell for "10X" the price on the table.
Another new kid on the scene in generative AI is Perplexity, which raised $18bn last month, joining OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Gemini. The URL bar is also this orb of responsibility impulse that seems to be warning the weirder browsers of old, such as The AI-powered Comet and another (failed) bit at acquiring TikTok back in January. The company has been attracting interest from big tech like Apple and Meta, reports say.
