Perplexity offers to buy Google Chrome for $34.5B
114 comments
·August 13, 2025biosboiii
jmkni
What's wrong with Firefox? I've used it as my main browser for the best part of 20 years now and have no issues.
The last time I used Chrome there were ads all over the place because the ad blockers don't work properly anymore (I'm guessing because of manifest v3)
gryn
as a long time user of firefox (also around 20years). it still has many pain points especially if you're a tab hoarder.
try closing a window with 400 mid to heavy tabs and see how long it takes, you can select the tabs individually and they will close way faster. (even on the best PC you can find)
this is niche but I wish there was a watered down /minimalist version that dropped, bookmarks, history, sqlite (I know HN likes sqlite a lot, but in this context chromes usage of levelDB beats it by a lot but you lose the advantage of running SQL queries directly to the file), basically everything besides extensions, containers, profiles.
- can't control it from the command line, only open urls and can't have them open in a specific container because the implementation is this weird mix of internal browser code + extension. (tools like brotab are limited, wish I could have a better flexibility to integrate into my i3/sway workflow, with things like the ability to merge all windows in a workspace into a single one)
- you can't run separate profiles on separate processes, so having a different network namespace for each profile is a pain (my use case, each profile is routed through a different VPN).
there are many mores minor grievances I forgot with time, but I still wouldn't go back to chrome.
soulofmischief
I currently have 8260 tabs open across 9 windows, and that's just on my main laptop, across all devices I probably have over 20k tabs, and I don't really have any issues regarding tab management.
I used to have issues with Firefox randomly nuking my state on load and having to restore backups, but now I use Tab Session Manager for that and never think twice about it.
anentropic
Yes, Chrome with ad blockers was perfect until that came along. YouTube sucks now
zac23or
> What's wrong with Firefox
Speed and bugs. My Firefox crashes on some sites, like 9gag.
And it's very slow to load websites. The latest version of Chrome loads websites instantly! Firefox takes a few seconds!
Insanity
I use chrome on my work machine and Firefox on my personal machine.
Haven’t ran into breaking bugs with FF (that I can remember), and I don’t notice a meaningful performance difference.
Have been using FF for probably 10-15 years now.
birksherty
None of these is true. Either you're lying or somthing is wrong with your PC or OS
binary132
That can’t possibly be true, Firefox uses rust and rust is blazingly fast.
forgotoldacc
I personally don't think having the world's most popular web browser being in the hands of an advertising and surveillance company is all that great. One big reason being that they control captchas and lock content behind them, and they grant leniency to people using their browser, which is more permissive with dangerous ads and allow the company to make more money and further their dominance.
Timshel
> the benevolent dictator of the web
Lol it's more like a death grip since nobody can compete with their ad business model. There is almost no innovation in the browser space outside of more and more tracking ...
hackrmn
I'd argue that depends on what you mean by "innovation" -- Google has been pretty busy, meaning specifically developers on their payroll, churning out more or less useful Web API implementations, certainly at a far more frantic pace than people traditionally _blamed_ browsers of yester-decade for. Nevermind that some of these APIs are more haphazardly designed than others, truth be told most of them are okay and are aptly designed so it's not a critical issue (for Web developers or Chrome's market share). Google co-authors most Web standards and implement them often _before_ the "standard" is published (for better and for worse; anti-trust allegations, I am looking at you). But they're not idle, one thing's for sure. Markedly different than how I remember Microsoft resting for months if not years on their IE laurels, like a CO2 blanket in a room that evacuated all the air.
So yeah, how would you describe this lack of innovation you're referring to?
There can always be more innovation that isn't of the sort I described above, but Web _is_ made of Web APIs -- if a website cannot "do" it, you as a user of the site, won't be able to experience it, is my crude opinion. But I'd love to hear examples to the contrary, illustrating innovation that isn't Web APIs.
Removing tab-based browsing (an anti-pattern if you ask me)? Optimizations (speed, size, etc)?
Timshel
I mean in term of user facing change. Vertical tabs is still presented as an innovation ...
Tabs groups are barely explored, and let's not dream too much of isolation Firefox containers are probably over ten years old and still almost unused :(.
More recently Arc and Zen are trying to innovate (I’m not using either), but they probably have almost no chance as long Chrome stay as dominant and financed by ad tracking.
Using Firefox on linux I’m facing more and more capchas and broken or innacessible websites. Ladybird is making great progress but unless they start posing as chrome they’ll face the same challenges :(.
Edit: > churning out more or less useful Web API implementations
Probably part of the problem since it makes maintaining a browser engine absurdly expensive and out of reach for almost everyone ...
tgv
Firefox: address bar is 2px too high? Garbage.
Chrome: eavesdrops on everything? This is fine.
binary132
User priorities are what’s really broken.
callamdelaney
Firefox seems to work pretty okay
verandaguy
Yeah, if anything the governance model is questionable.
The browser itself is technically competitive with anything else out there.
TechRemarker
"benevolent" is an interesting word choice. I wouldn't consider them having positive intentions for users, but rather focused on financial gain and market power at any cost. Though if Apple owned would be anti non Apple customers, if most other companies owned would end up monetizing it as well but without the resources of Google. Or if government owned would remain stagnant. So not sure what the right path is.
irthomasthomas
Everyone in my house uses NYXT, the keyboard-driven, renderer-agnostic browser written in LISP.
duped
Google is not benevolent
PedroBatista
I get the feeling this Perplexity guy is a mix of SBF the bitcoin dude with the Palantir guy but actually dreams to be early Elon, or a troll. Maybe another another deep state plant? If we really want to go that road..
Either way, how does Perplexity even envisions to become a stable business? Let alone buying the browser with +80% worldwide share.
mi_lk
Getting similar vibe and this performative move reinforces that
navigate8310
He is not even a US citizen. Something seems not right.
pbarry25
Their CEO is trash, eff Perplexity.
happosai
Genuis. The ultimate way to bypass all AI bot crawling blocks. Just make every chrome browser upload whatever they view to perplexity for training data^W^WAI summarizing.
alephnerd
Also for monetizing AI Search.
Google has already seen most users [0] directly use AI search instead of clicking into a website.
It is fairly straightforward for an organization to start pushing recommended sites from an AI-driven search, and with even less pushback as most users simply assume the AI search is always true [0].
This also would mean Perplexity could differentiate from OpenAI or Anthropic as a business by being able to build a strong B2C play whereas the former have concentrated on Enterprise B2B.
[0] - https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/07/22/google-us...
perihelions
Also,
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44877656 ("Perplexity Makes Longshot $34.5B Offer for Chrome (wsj.com)"—115 comments)
ndr
Perhaps not a coincidence, $34.5B is Google's profit in 2025q1:
https://abc.xyz/assets/34/fa/ee06f3de4338b99acffc5c229d9f/20...
impulser_
It's also the estimated monthly active users of chrome * 10.
digitcatphd
This is clearly a PR stunt. Perplexity knows Google would not sell Chrome, it is the holy grail of their ads strategy and would cripple their moat.
ocdtrekkie
You may be unaware that Google has lost an antitrust suit and that the DOJ has asked the courts to require Google sell Chrome. Whether or not Google can bribe their way out of it is yet to be seen, but they may not have a choice, so it's a pretty big one time opportunity.
scarface_74
Yes and the courts are idiots. Why buy Chrome when you they can get Chromium for free? What good is Chrome outside of Google?
Not to mention what does that mean for ChromeOS?
philistine
That’s ultimately for the courts to decide but what’s at issue is not the control of Chrome itself but wether Google is allowed to offer a browser. Any browser.
People on this site seem to forget that courts can compel companies. Open-source is not a magic bullet that invalidates consent decrees. If Google is forced to sell off Chrome and forbidden from offering a browser due to their monopoly in the ad market, they can’t shout open-source and it no longer applies. Google could probably keep spending engineer hours working on Chromium, but wouldn’t be allowed to offer it bundled with its products, and have it on their own website.
ocdtrekkie
The courts have, for the first time in decades, done their job. It seems ridiculous now but it should've been done ten years ago.
The impact is in removing Google's control of the customer base, not in a copy of the code.
digitcatphd
Also likely a political PR stunt.
ocdtrekkie
This is a completely bipartisan aligned issue. Trump's administration has basically said that Biden's antitrust enforcement is the one thing they did right (in their opinion). These investigations started under Trump 1, continued under Biden, and will likely be successfully enforced under Trump 2.
There's a lot of reason big corps were trying to get Harris to agree to fire Lina Khan in exchange for support: The only way they get out of this is a bribe. And we've already seen Trump is both happy to take the bribe... and still punish you anyways.
echelon
> would cripple their moat.
Would end their unfair monopolistic control over the web, search, and digital advertising.
The DOJ or the FTC need to force this dismantlement.
fcanesin
Missing a zero here for a realistic valuation of the indisputable market leader in the most important interface of computing.
yalogin
Perplexity buying chrome would be a disaster, it just feels that way. Every vibe I got from that company is not good. They would commercialize every aspect of the browser so fast, as in insert ads everywhere. Again I just get that vibe.
philistine
It’s not just vibes. It’s cold hard cash. If you pay billions for something, you have to make that money back somehow.
wina
I wonder how much would Google pay to a new owner of Chrome for a default search engine deal.
a3w
With Chrome's market share? 10+ billion a year, certainly, as that would be only 3% of the ad volume.
Can google sell, then have Alphabet Holding create Chrome2 based on Chromium, ripping off Perplexity?
andrepd
Jesus how the fuck does advertising make such ungodly amounts of money.
pennomi
Because we spent an entire generation of the world’s most brilliant engineers on optimizing ad revenue.
Makes me sad, we could have been on Mars by now if we had decided that spaceflight was more important than social media.
guappa
Because if you don't pay they bury you so low you will never sell anything.
christophilus
Try putting food on the table without advertising your business. How much does your employer pay for ads?
marcos100
Because it works really well
jimbohn
You need to pay to exist
monday_
"Here's what we're going to do. We're going to accept the offer."
".. Gavin, Chrome is our primary ad ingest platform. We just used it to kill adblockers. Why, exactly, would we sell it?"
"I understand your concern, I really do. But we must not let ourselves be constrained by the limits of our profitability!
Consider a gorilla. The board members look at the conference room doors in panic, but nothing happens A magnificent remote cousin that all of us share, particularly you, Devone. A gorilla is a peaceful, pastoral creature. But, if you were to strike your chest in front of it, it'll rip your head off and stick so far up your ass you choke on it. breathes heavily
The gorilla, ladies and gentlemen, is the American justice system. And nothing, nothing, provokes it more than buying stuff with no intention of paying for it.
We accept the bid and Perplexity, obviously, fails raising 35 billion. Then we file a complaint, keep Chrome, get the popcorn and let the gorilla of justice explain to the competition the finer points of contractual law.
Ladies and gentlemen. This was Gavin Belson. bows "
---
Three weeks later, on Bloomberg news
"And with me is Mr. Bildt, a representative of a coalition of activist investors that raised 35 billion dollars for the Perplexity purchase of Google Chrome. Mister Bildt, what prompted you to assist what many consider to be a disastrous and unlikely deal? Do you expect Perplexity to manage Chrome better than Google?"
"God no. Given Perplexity's track record, we expect them to run the browser into the ground in 3-4 months, a year tops. Chrome accounts for some 80% of web traffic today. With its effective monopoly gone, we expect to capitalize on what many of us call a Belson-less market"
DoctorOW
The show's been off the air too long. I needed this.
jagermo
and i am off to waste time on a best of Gavin Belson compilation, thank you.
the_gipsy
Hilarious!
everdrive
Hard to understand whether this is a positive or negative. Chrome is trampling the internet in favor of Google. Will Perplexity just make Chrome even worse than it is, or will they degrade Chrome's market share through incompetence? More competition in the browser space would be welcome, but I'm not optimistic.
chaz6
How much of that would trickle down to the developers who worked on KHTML on which Chrome is based I wonder. They should feel pretty chuffed that their offspring has resulted in such a large valuation.
I dislike tech monopolies but Chrome leaving Google would be most terrible thing ever, security wise.
Google has become the benevolent dictator of the web, if you like it or not. We get secure browsers, performance improvements, stable implementations at the cost of one bad feature being shipped a year (like Manifest V3).
Mozilla/FOSS community has fucked up Firefox, big time, which is not even their fault as they cannot hire thousands of six-figure developers.