With an unsolicited cash offer of $34.5 billion, the AI startup Perplexity has positioned itself as a potential buyer of Google's browser Chrome. The move comes as a U.S. federal court decides this month on possible restrictions following the antitrust ruling against Google's search dominance. A breakup and sale of Chrome are considered the most drastic option.

In a letter to Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, Perplexity co-founder Aravind Srinivas stated that several large venture capital funds were ready to fully finance the transaction. He did not name any. The offered price is almost twice as high as Perplexity's current valuation of $18 billion. Alphabet declined to comment; internally, the offer is not considered serious, according to people familiar with the matter.

The legal dispute with the US Department of Justice revolves around exclusive billion-dollar contracts that Google is said to have used to secure its dominance in the search market – particularly with Apple. Judge Amit Mehta confirmed last year that Google had thus sidelined competitors. In addition to a possible Chrome sale, there is the issue of Alphabet having to share more user data with competitors.

Perplexity, founded three years ago and backed by investors like SoftBank, Nvidia, and Jeff Bezos, operates an AI search platform with 30 million active users. With the recently introduced Chromium-based browser "Comet" and a promise to retain Chrome with an open-source basis, keep Google as the default search, and invest $3 billion in two years, the startup aims to underline its suitability as a buyer.

However, the struggle for Chrome is likely to take several years: Google plans to appeal against all regulations and warns of security risks as well as the loss of intellectual property.