Ad.com Interactive Media and its subsidiary Public Good have made an unsolicited $35 billion offer to Google for Chrome, the world’s most-used web browser.
The offer comes just a few days after artificial intelligence developer Perplexity made its own unsolicited bid to acquire Chrome under the auspices that Google will eventually be forced to part with the browser as part of its ongoing federal antitrust case.
Ad.com and Public Good’s bid is $500 million higher than the offer made by Perplexity, and comes at a time when the company is working to market Search.com, its new AI-powered chatbot and search engine that rewards web users with cash back when they purchase goods and services from partner advertisers.
While Ad.com and Public Good’s offer may come across as a publicity stunt at first, the company’s executives say the offer is real. In a Zoom call on Thursday, Ad.com CEO Danny Bibi said the company is working with JPMorgan Chase to finance its $35 billion deal, and that it already has a roadmap of how it will operate Chrome if an agreement is reached.
Bibi confirmed Ad.com will remove integrations to Google’s products and services throughout Chrome and replace them with the company’s own products. That includes making Search.com the default search engine when people install or update the Chrome browser, which will allow the product to reach more people and generate higher returns on its investment.
Naturally, some might be concerned that allowing a long-time advertising technology company to take over Chrome might have deeper implications on the user experience. When asked if ad-blocking plugins will still be allowed, Bibi said Chrome would have a “more-thorough vetting process” for Chrome extensions, but said the company wasn’t interested in decommissioning popular ones. Instead, Ad.com will work to prevent plugins that change the search experience, and those that compromise the privacy and personal data of its users, he affirmed.
Melissa Anderson, the founder of Public Good who now leads development on Search.com, said Ad.com’s bid makes more financial sense because the company already has a revenue-generating business, while Perplexity — still considered a startup in the AI world — faces a tougher road toward monetization.
“They’re just starting to build their sales team — that’s a long path toward monetization,” Anderson said on Thursday. “We already work with over 200 global brands — we’ve got the advertisers, we’ve got the publisher relationships.”
The $35 billion offer extends only to Chrome’s browser, and does not include Chrome OS, an operating system that powers Chromebook laptops.
Both Perplexity and Search.com see the same value in acquiring Chrome: A one-time purchase for instant scale and immense reach. Seven out of 10 people on the Internet use Chrome on a daily basis. It is the most-popular browser on personal computers, and the second most-popular on phones and tablets (behind Safari, the default browser on Apple devices).
Its popularity is what got Google in hot water with the federal government five years ago. Then, prosecutors argued that Google abused its market power by making Google the default search engine on devices running Android, an open-source operating system that Google develops. The company further solidified its market position by making financial pacts with peers like Apple and Mozilla to make Google the default search engine on their browsers and devices, prosecutors alleged.
Last year, a federal judge ruled Google’s practices regarding its search engine violated the Sherman Antitrust Act, and federal prosecutors wasted little time urging the court to force Google to sell Chrome, which set the stage for Perplexity and Ad.com’s unsolicited offers. Google has not been able to appeal the decision because the judge has yet to order a remedy in the case.
Separately, Google was also accused of exerting monopolistic control over the digital advertising industry by incentivizing publishers to use its own ad services over rival platforms. In May, a judge sided against Google, setting the stage that the tech company may be forced to sell off parts of its advertising business, too.
