Search.com has made a $35 billion bid to acquire Google Chrome, surpassing Perplexity AI’s previous bid of $34.5 billion. Backed by JPMorgan Chase and a group of private equity firms, this offer is intended to gain control over the world’s most-used browser and its significant search traffic. The move comes amidst intensified scrutiny of Google by regulators, as the company currently holds about 65% of the global browser market and nearly 90% of search traffic. Both companies are framing their bids as efforts to challenge the dominance of Google and Bing in the search market. Search.com aims to leverage Chrome not just as infrastructure but as a gateway to enhance user engagement with their AI search platform, promising ad-free browsing and a significant revenue share for publishers. The competition to acquire Chrome reflects the rising importance of AI capabilities in web browsing, with major players integrating advanced AI features into their systems. Amid these developments, Google has not yet responded to the offers, leaving the future direction of Chrome uncertain.

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