Search.com Officially Proposes to Buy Chrome for $35 Billion, Surpassing Perplexity AI by $500 Million, as AI Integration Competition Intensifies.
The race for Google Chrome ownership has entered a new phase as Search.com officially joined with a price of $35 billion, $500 million higher than the $34.5 billion proposal by Perplexity AI on August 12. The deal is backed by JPMorgan Chase and a group of private investment funds, marking a significant escalation in the competition for control of the world's most popular browser.
Melissa Anderson, President of Public Good – the company owning Search.com, positioned this move as a "both offensive and defensive" strategy. According to Ms. Anderson, owning Chrome will help the company expand its scale, promote AI search platform adoption, and create direct connections with users. Search.com's proposal not only includes source code, brand, and infrastructure like Perplexity, but also commits to attractive user incentives such as ad-free browsing, search cashback, and sharing 60% of advertising revenue with publishers.
Chrome currently holds about 65% of the global browser market share, while Google controls nearly 90% of search traffic according to a Wharton report in March 2025. However, Google is facing serious legal pressure as the US Department of Justice has been suing the company since 2020 for antitrust allegations, and federal courts have ruled Google a monopoly in the digital advertising market in April 2025.
AI Revolution in the Browser Industry
The Chrome deal occurs as browser developers are actively integrating AI to create competitive advantages. Microsoft Edge has added Copilot Mode, Brave integrated Leo assistant, Opera uses Google Gemini and is testing a new Neon browser, while OpenAI is rumored to be developing its own browser.
Search.com, which launched its generative AI platform in early August 2025, claims Chrome will become the "backbone" for a platform serving community interests rather than just focusing on profits. Danny Bibi, CEO of ad.com (Public Good's parent company), emphasized that Chrome is an "access point and growth gateway" to challenge Google and Bing's dominance in the search market.
While Google remains silent about both proposals, Anderson and Bibi confirmed that the company has received the purchase offers from Search.com. With two competing proposals simultaneously, the future of Chrome and AI's role in the browser industry stand at a crucial historical turning point.
