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AI Startup Perplexity Offers $34.5 Billion for Google Chrome

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Perplexity AI, led by Aravind Srinivas, made an unsolicited all-cash bid of $34.5 billion to acquire Google’s Chrome browser, a price far above its own $14 billion valuation. The offer comes as web browsers regain importance in the AI search race, providing access to billions of users and valuable search data.

Perplexity, which already operates an AI-enabled browser called Comet, plans to maintain Chrome’s open-source Chromium code, invest $3 billion over two years, and preserve the default search engine, pledging no equity component in the deal. The startup has raised around $1 billion from investors including Nvidia and SoftBank and stated multiple funds are willing to finance the offer.

Google has not commented and has no plans to sell Chrome, with regulatory pressure and an ongoing antitrust case possibly leading to a prolonged legal battle. Analysts note the sale could take years to resolve, with appeals potentially reaching the Supreme Court. Perplexity’s move follows previous high-profile offers, such as its bid for TikTok US in January, and highlights the growing competition in AI-driven search and browsers.

Judge Rejects Class Action Lawsuit Over Google Chrome Privacy Claims

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A U.S. federal judge ruled on Monday that people alleging Google illegally collected their personal data from Google Chrome browsers without syncing with Google accounts cannot proceed with a class action lawsuit against Alphabet’s unit.

U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland, California, agreed with Google that claims should be handled individually to determine if millions of Chrome users understood and consented to the company’s data collection policies.

“Inquiries relating to Google’s implied consent defense will overwhelm the damages claims for all causes of action,” the judge wrote. She dismissed the proposed damages class action with prejudice, barring it from being filed again. Additionally, Chrome users were denied the ability to seek policy changes as a group.

Google’s Vice President of Litigation, Sandi Knight, said the company appreciated the decision and noted that Chrome Sync includes clear privacy controls. Plaintiffs’ lawyer David Straite declined to comment.

The ruling follows a 2024 federal appeals court decision instructing Judge Rogers to assess whether reasonable Chrome users consented to Google collecting their data during browsing. Plaintiffs argued that Chrome’s privacy notice misled users by stating they “don’t need to provide any personal information to use Chrome” and that Google would only collect data if users enabled the sync feature.

Judge Rogers had previously dismissed the case in December 2022 but continues to oversee two other privacy lawsuits against Google with different claims. The appeals court decision came after Google agreed in 2023 to destroy billions of data records to settle a lawsuit related to tracking users in Incognito mode.

Case: Calhoun et al v Google LLC, 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 22-16993.

CERT-In Warns: Google Chrome Vulnerabilities May Let Hackers Gain System Access

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CERT-In Alerts Users to Critical Google Chrome Security Vulnerabilities

The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) has issued an advisory warning users about multiple security flaws identified in Google Chrome for Desktop. These vulnerabilities, if exploited, could expose users to significant cyber threats. The national cybersecurity agency urged all users and organisations to immediately update to the latest version of Google Chrome across Windows, macOS, and Linux platforms to ensure protection. According to the advisory, users running outdated versions of the browser are at heightened risk.

In its vulnerability note, CIVN-2025-0099, published on May 16, CERT-In detailed the nature and severity of the issues, assigning them a “high” severity rating. The affected versions include Chrome for Desktop prior to version 136.0.7103.113 for Mac and Linux, and 136.0.7103.114 for Windows systems. These flaws could potentially be exploited by attackers to execute unauthorized actions on a user’s system.

Among the vulnerabilities, CVE-2025-4664 involves insufficient policy enforcement in Chrome’s Loader component, which could allow attackers to leak cross-origin data through a specially crafted HTML page. Another flaw, CVE-2025-4609, relates to the improper handling of operations within Mojo, Chrome’s inter-process communication system. Exploiting these weaknesses would typically require the attacker to trick users into visiting a malicious website, making social engineering a key part of the attack strategy.

Google acknowledged the issues and released security patches on May 14 to address four identified flaws. The company credited two independent security researchers for uncovering the vulnerabilities, as noted in CERT-In’s advisory. Users are strongly advised to update their browsers without delay, as continued use of unpatched versions could leave systems exposed to malicious exploitation.