Google received a longshot $34 billion offer for Chrome from a surprising source

U.S. antitrust regulators have been on a roll, and Google may soon be forced to sell its popular Chrome browser, which is by far the leading web browser among Americans.

Now, Google has reportedly received a massive 'longshot' offer from a surprising source: Perplexity AI.

The Wall Street Journal broke the news today that Perplexity AI has reportedly offered Google $34.5 billion to buy Chrome, which is surprising for a few reasons. Most notably, Perplexity itself is only valued at $18 billion, the Journal reports. Second, while the exact valuation of Chrome is not known, some estimates place the web browser's value at either $20 or $50 billion, depending on who's asking.

Perplexity is best known as an AI-powered search engine, but the company recently launched Comet, an agentic AI browser.

So, how would Perplexity AI fund this offer? According to the Wall Street Journal, Perplexity has the backing of several venture-capital funds and other investors, who would back their offer.

OpenAI has also reportedly expressed interest in buying Google Chrome, though it's unclear if Google would be willing to sell such a popular asset to its chief AI rival.

All of this is unfolding as tech companies brace for the ripple effects of the Department of Justice’s landmark antitrust case against Google. Indeed, Google is unlikely to sell Chrome unless forced to do so.

The antitrust case over Google's monopoly of the search marketplace determined that Google “illegally [monopolized] the search engine and search advertising markets.” Google has already lost that case, and now U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta is weighing potential remedies, one of the most dramatic being a forced sale of Chrome.

At the same time, major tech companies are looking to a post-Google Search web economy and trying to get a head start in the race for AI browser dominance

Many analysts think a sale of Google Chrome is ultimately unlikely, but that hasn’t stopped rivals like Perplexity from moving fast to put their name in the hat. On top of the Chrome question, Judge Mehta could also restrict Google’s ability to pay for default search engine placement on browsers and devices — a move that reportedly had Apple eyeing Perplexity as a potential acquisition target in the first place.

Chrome boasts roughly 3.5 billion users worldwide and commands more than 60 percent of the global browser market — a dominance that makes any talk of a forced sale one of the most consequential antitrust remedies in tech history.