US media: artificial intelligence startup Perplexity offers $34.5 billion to buy Google's Chrome

Artificial intelligence startup Perplexity has offered to buy Google's (GOOG.O) Chrome browser for $34.5 billion in a bid to challenge the tech giant's dominance of web search, according to the Wall Street Journal.Perplexity's bid is well above its own valuation, which is around $18 billion. The company said a number of investors, including major venture capital funds, have agreed to back the deal in full. Estimates of Chrome's value vary, but recent estimates range from $20 billion to $50 billion. Perplexity's bid may be an attempt to signal to the judge that there is an interested buyer, after U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta weighed whether to force Google to sell the browser in an effort to weaken Google's monopoly in Web search. (Golden Ten Data)