Perplexity AI has made a $34.5 billion cash bid to acquire Google's Chrome browser. The surprise offer comes as Google faces anti-trust lawsuits in the U.S., and Perplexity may believe that Google will be forced to divest Chrome. Despite its current market cap of $18 billion, Perplexity has backing from high-profile investors and is said to have secured financing from multiple funds. However, the proposed price is considered low by some analysts, with estimates suggesting Chrome's value could be up to 10 times higher. Perplexity has also stated its commitment to keeping the Chromium engine open-source and investing $3 billion in Chrome over two years.
Recent #Chrome news in the semiconductor industry
➀ The article discusses the discovery of 57 Chrome extensions with hidden tracking code in the Chrome Web Store, posing a security and privacy threat.
➁ The affected extensions have nearly 6 million installations, with some having over 200,000 installations.
➂ Secure Annex researcher John Tucker highlights the issue, noting that many of the extensions are unlisted and have overly broad permissions.
➀ Google is enhancing Chrome's security features with the latest update; ➁ An improved Safety Check will run in the background to protect users; ➂ Users can now stop unwanted notifications and grant one-time permissions to websites.
1. Google has reversed its stance on banning third-party cookies and will instead introduce new privacy protection features in Chrome; 2. The company initially aimed to abolish third-party cookies by 2022 for user privacy protection but later postponed it to the second half of 2024; 3. Google will add a new privacy protection feature that allows users to make informed choices about their web browsing and change them at any time, as well as enhance IP protection in Chrome's Incognito mode.