Perplexity makes surprise $34.5bn bid for Google's Chrome

Artificial intelligence start-up Perplexity has tabled a $34.5 billion (£25.6 billion) cash bid for Google's Chrome browser, saying independent ownership would improve user safety and uphold the “open web”. In a letter to Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) chief executive Sundar Pichai, the firm pledged to keep Google as Chrome's default search engine while continuing support for Chromium, the open-source technology behind Chrome and other browsers.