USA (Commonwealth Union)_ In an unexpected twist in the world of tech and AI, Aravind Srinivas, the Indian-origin CEO of AI search startup Perplexity, has made headlines by proposing a $34.5 billion all-cash offer to acquire Google Chrome. The offer was made in a letter and was sent to Google CEO Sundar Pichai this month. Srinivas’s ambitious bid has raised eyebrows across Silicon Valley, not just for its bold nature, but because the offer far exceeds the current estimated value of his own company. Perplexity, which has quickly gained attention in the AI space, is reportedly valued at around $14–18 billion. The offer to buy Chrome, one of the world’s most-used browsers with over three billion users, is nearly double that.
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Why Chrome?
At the center of this move is a strategic play to gain a foothold in the competitive AI search market. Perplexity has already created its own AI-powered browser, Comet, which enables users to obtain solutions using conversational search. However, winning control of Chrome would provide the young startup with tremendous distribution and influence, possibly amplifying its challenge against digital behemoths such as Google and OpenAI. While the offer may seem far-fetched, Perplexity says several major investment firms are willing to finance the deal. The names of these backers, however, have not been disclosed. Google, for its part, has not publicly responded to the proposal.
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Who is Aravind Srinivas?
At just 31 years old, Aravind Srinivas has built an impressive resume. He was born and raised in Chennai, India, and graduated from IIT Madras before getting his Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley. He has worked as a researcher at numerous top AI laboratories, including OpenAI, Google, and DeepMind. At OpenAI, he collaborated with some of the field’s most significant thinkers, including AI pioneer Yoshua Bengio. In 2022, he cofounded Perplexity AI with Andy Konwinski, Denis Yarats, and Johnny Ho.The startup focuses on creating an AI-native search experience that offers direct, real-time answers instead of typical blue-link results. People sometimes position its methodology as a credible alternative to Google Search, especially for customers seeking quick, conversational results. Additionally, Perplexity has secured over $1 billion in capital from key investors, including Nvidia and Japan’s SoftBank. The company’s expanding prominence has propelled it to the top of the list of generative AI startups to watch.
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An active investor in AI innovation
Aside from operating Perplexity, Srinivas is an active angel investor. He has financed several AI businesses, including Eleven Labs (AI speech), Mistral (AI foundation models), Suno and Udio (AI music), Pika Labs (AI video), and Cognition Labs (AI coding tools), among others. His investment portfolio shows a clear interest in companies pushing the boundaries of generative AI and multimodal technology.
Why now?
The timing of the bid is especially significant. Google is presently facing an antitrust verdict in the United States, where a federal court determined that the firm illegally maintained its search dominance by paying to be the default on browsers and gadgets. Although the legal battle may continue for years, it has provided an opportunity for competitors to test Google’s control over its core products. Perplexity’s offer, while likely to be rejected, is a high-profile move that highlights just how much the browser has become a front line in the AI race. Built on the open-source Chromium platform, Chrome serves as a crucial distribution channel for Google’s AI assistant, Gemini. According to reports, Perplexity has said it would keep Chromium open-source, continue using Google as the default search engine, and invest $3 billion into Chrome’s development.
Will Google sell Chrome?
Industry analysts are skeptical. Google’s ecosystem deeply integrates Chrome, which is crucial to its search and advertising businesses. Despite reports of interest in Chrome from companies like OpenAI and Apollo Global Management, few believe Google would ever part with it. Still, Srinivas’ bold move has made one thing clear: the battle for dominance in AI search is intensifying, and it’s no longer just about algorithms. It’s also about who controls the window to the web.
