Bloomberg: Google Competitor Set to Acquire Chrome
Yahoo is reportedly preparing to acquire the web browser Chrome if a US federal court orders its current owner, Google, to divest it in an antitrust case, according to Bloomberg. As reported by the outlet, Brian Provost, the general manager...
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Yahoo is reportedly preparing to acquire the web browser Chrome if a US federal court orders its current owner, Google, to divest it in an antitrust case, according to Bloomberg.
As reported by the outlet, Brian Provost, the general manager for Yahoo Search, testified at Google’s trial in Washington on Thursday, asserting that Chrome is “arguably the most important strategic player on the web” and that his company estimates the browser’s sale price would be in the tens of billions of dollars.
“We would be able to pursue it with Apollo,” Provost noted, referring to Yahoo’s parent company – Apollo Global Management.
Provost’s testimony was part of a three-week hearing aimed at addressing Google’s substantial dominance in internet search, with Chrome playing a significant role, according to the US Department of Justice. This trial commenced on Monday, following last year’s ruling by a US judge that deemed Google’s actions as having illegally monopolized the internet search market.
In response, Google attorney John Schmidtlein criticized the government’s suggested remedies as “extreme” and “fundamentally flawed,” contending that the company has earned its market position “fair and square.”
Schmidtlein suggested that the government’s insistence on Google divesting Chrome would “reward competitors with advantages they never would have earned in a market where Google competed.”
Other potential purchasers eyeing Chrome include ChatGPT developer OpenAI and the AI search engine Perplexity.
TechCrunch reported that Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas acknowledged his company’s interest in acquiring a web browser to aid in the development of its AI model and “get data even outside the [Perplexity] app to better understand you.”
“Because some of the prompts that people do in these AIs is purely work-related. It’s not like that’s personal,” he elaborated on the TBPN podcast.
“On the other hand, what are the things you’re buying; which hotels are you going [to]; which restaurants are you going to; what are you spending time browsing, tells us so much more about you,” he added, highlighting that this information could enhance user profiles and “show some ads” in the ‘discover’ feed.
Olivia Brown for TROIB News
As reported by the outlet, Brian Provost, the general manager for Yahoo Search, testified at Google’s trial in Washington on Thursday, asserting that Chrome is “arguably the most important strategic player on the web” and that his company estimates the browser’s sale price would be in the tens of billions of dollars.
“We would be able to pursue it with Apollo,” Provost noted, referring to Yahoo’s parent company – Apollo Global Management.
Provost’s testimony was part of a three-week hearing aimed at addressing Google’s substantial dominance in internet search, with Chrome playing a significant role, according to the US Department of Justice. This trial commenced on Monday, following last year’s ruling by a US judge that deemed Google’s actions as having illegally monopolized the internet search market.
In response, Google attorney John Schmidtlein criticized the government’s suggested remedies as “extreme” and “fundamentally flawed,” contending that the company has earned its market position “fair and square.”
Schmidtlein suggested that the government’s insistence on Google divesting Chrome would “reward competitors with advantages they never would have earned in a market where Google competed.”
Other potential purchasers eyeing Chrome include ChatGPT developer OpenAI and the AI search engine Perplexity.
TechCrunch reported that Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas acknowledged his company’s interest in acquiring a web browser to aid in the development of its AI model and “get data even outside the [Perplexity] app to better understand you.”
“Because some of the prompts that people do in these AIs is purely work-related. It’s not like that’s personal,” he elaborated on the TBPN podcast.
“On the other hand, what are the things you’re buying; which hotels are you going [to]; which restaurants are you going to; what are you spending time browsing, tells us so much more about you,” he added, highlighting that this information could enhance user profiles and “show some ads” in the ‘discover’ feed.
Olivia Brown for TROIB News
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