I'm offering $1.8B to buy Perplexity. Here's the math behind it
Why Chrome is worth 10x more than Perplexity's lowball offer
I'm officially making a $1.8 billion offer to buy Perplexity. Here's why this makes perfect sense.
AI search company Perplexity recently announced they want to buy Chrome from Google for $34.5 billion. But is it really worth that price?
Google pays Apple roughly $20 billion annually just to be Safari's default search engine. Chrome has more than 3x Safari's market share. Do the math: that's $60 billion in annual revenue ($20B x 3) if Google were to pay Chrome as a standalone company. After applying a conservative 5x SaaS revenue multiple, Chrome's worth at least $300 billion to Google.
Here's another angle to figure out Chrome's valuation. Google Search generated $198.1 billion in 2024, 57% of Google's total revenue. Google's 10-K actually defines this as "revenues generated on Google search properties (including revenues from traffic generated by search distribution partners who use Google.com as their default search in browsers)." That's Chrome's massive contribution right there.
With Google's $2.42 trillion market cap, Search alone is worth about $1.38 trillion ($2.42T × 57%). Even if Chrome drives just 20% of that search traffic (and it's probably much higher), we're looking at $273 billion in value ($1.38T × 20%).
So Perplexity is offering at roughly one-tenth of Chrome's actual worth. Following that same logic, since Perplexity just raised at an $18 billion valuation, my $1.8 billion offer seems fair.
Perplexity’s offer doesn't sound ridiculous at first glance, particularly with DuckDuckGo CEO telling the court that Chrome is worth as much as $50 billion while testifying during the Google antitrust trial. Chrome is undervalued even at $50 billion when you consider its strategic importance to Google's search empire.
If you're still reading this, this means my bold move is working. Obviously, I'm not actually buying Perplexity. But you've just experienced their PR playbook, which is to capture people's attention. This made me think of their Super Bowl ad last year mocking Google with the Squid Game reference, and their TikTok merger proposal. Each move follows the same bold PR playbook.
Perplexity is making noise that positions them as a serious Google challenger. Every headline reinforces their narrative: we're the scrappy AI company bold enough to take on Big Tech.
But is this really the right move? As an emerging player trying to disrupt an incumbent with such bold public challenges? Clayton Christensen's Innovator's Dilemma suggests new innovation players should quietly grow in underserved markets, not poke the giant. When you're going head-to-head with Google, maybe the smartest strategy isn't making yourself the biggest target in the room.
The question every founder should ask: When does bold positioning become reckless provocation? And in a world where attention equals currency, maybe Perplexity has already won, regardless of whether they buy Chrome.
*This post is commentary and analysis, not an actual acquisition offer.
Very well written Phoebe!