Is Google Chrome going to be sold? Know who Arvind Srinivas is who gave an offer of $34.5 billion

Perplexity AI has surprised the tech world. The company's CEO Arvind Srinivas has given an all-cash offer of $34.5 billion to buy Google Chrome.

Google Chrome: Artificial intelligence startup Perplexity AI has surprised the tech world. The company's CEO Arvind Srinivas has given an all-cash offer of $34.5 billion to buy Google Chrome while Chrome is not even officially available for sale. This bid is much higher than Perplexity's own valuation ($14 billion). The company's goal is to strengthen its hold in the AI search race and gain direct access to Chrome's nearly 3 billion users.

Who is Arvind Srinivas?

Arvind Srinivas is the co-founder and CEO of Perplexity AI. Srinivas, an Indian-origin person, began his studies at IIT Madras where he completed a dual degree in electrical engineering in 2017. He then earned a PhD in computer science from the University of California, Berkeley.

In 2022, he founded Perplexity AI along with Andy Konwinski, Dennis Yarats and Johnny Ho. So far, the company has raised nearly $1 billion in funding from big investors like Nvidia and Japan's SoftBank and its latest valuation is estimated at $14 billion.

Srinivas' career began as a research intern at OpenAI in 2018. He then worked in similar roles at Google and DeepMind between 2020 and 2021. Before starting Perplexity AI, he once again returned to OpenAI as a research scientist.

Increasing legal pressure on Google

The offer also has the backdrop of antitrust lawsuits going on against Google in the US. Recently, a US court ruled that Google has an unfair monopoly on online search. The US Justice Department suggested that the sale of Chrome could be a way to restore competition. However, Google plans to challenge and appeal the decision and has not yet given any indication of selling Chrome.

Promise of funding

Perplexity has claimed that several large investment funds are ready to fund the deal, but full details have not been revealed. The company has so far raised about $1 billion from investors like Nvidia and SoftBank. According to the terms of the deal, Perplexity will keep the Chromium code open-source, invest $3 billion in two years and will not make any changes to the default search engine.

Interest of OpenAI and Yahoo

Perplexity is not the only company interested in Chrome. Documents presented in court revealed that OpenAI and Yahoo had also explored the possibility of buying Chrome. In 2023, OpenAI asked Google for search API access for ChatGPT, but Google refused due to competition. Currently, OpenAI relies on Microsoft Bing for the search capability of its chatbot.

The future is uncertain but the stakes are big

Experts believe that Google will not give up Chrome so easily as it is not only an important part of search but also of the company's AI strategy. The data from Chrome strengthens Google's AI models and supports new features such as AI-generated search overviews. However, if the US Justice Department challenges Google's monopoly on search infrastructure, then the future of Chrome could become the biggest game-changer in the tech industry.