Welcome to the Tech Brew Ride Home for Wednesday, August 13th, 2025. I'm Brian McCullough today. Perplexity offers to acquire Chrome, but how serious are they? Fine, says OpenAI, have your GPT40 back. Our AI companions, the next breakout AI business beyond coding help, and is GM getting back

in the self-driving car business for real this time?

Here's what you miss today in the world of tech.

Well, this is designed to get your attention.

AI startup perplexity has offered to acquire Chrome from Google

for $34.5 billion. Now, that is obviously significantly more than Perplexity's estimated

$18 billion valuation, but that's okay, Perplexity says, because VC funds have agreed to back the deal.

Quoting the journal,

estimates of Chrome's enterprise value vary widely, but recent ones have ranged from $20 billion to $50 billion. U.S. District Judge Amit Meta is weighing whether to force Google to sell the browser

as a means of weakening Google's stranglehold on web search.

Meta last year ruled that Google illegally monopolized the search market and is expected to rule this month on how to restore competition. The perplexity offer could be an attempt to signal to the

judge that there is an interested buyer should he force a sale. In a letter to Sundar Pachai,

chief executive of Google Parent Alphabet,

Perplexity said it's offered a buy Chrome is, quote, designed to satisfy an antitrust remedy

in highest public interest by placing Chrome with a capable independent operator. Founded in

2022, San Francisco-based Perplexity recently released its own web browser called Comet to some of its users.

Analysts say the judge is unlikely to force the company to sell Chrome, though he gave little indication of which way he was leaning.

During closing arguments earlier this year, he asked whether doing so would be, quote, a little cleaner and a little bit more elegant than other remedies aimed at

improving search competition, end quote. Now, our friend M.G. Siegler says what occurred to me when I

heard this, which is essentially that this is clearly a marketing stunt and strategic signaling

amid Google's antitrust uncertainty. Quote, I'll give perplexity one thing.

Making the offer $34.5 billion is a nice touch. It makes it seem precise. Like a business person

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