Yahoo wants to buy Chrome

Many companies expressed interest in the world's most popular browser when it appeared in court. Photo: Techweez .

Yahoo is developing a prototype of a new web browser and has said it is willing to buy Chrome if a court forces Google to sell the browser to address its search monopoly.

The news comes on the fourth day of a trial on how to fix Google’s monopoly. One of the Justice Department ’s proposals is to require Google to separate Chrome from its parent company. The agency argues that Chrome is a key distribution channel for Google’s search engine and has accumulated so much power that it is difficult for rivals to compete, The Verge reported.

Yahoo isn’t the only one who has expressed interest in buying Chrome. DuckDuckGo’s CEO admitted that he doesn’t have the financial wherewithal to do so. Witnesses from Perplexity and OpenAI have also expressed interest in the world’s most popular browser in court.

Yahoo sees owning a web browser as a strategic gateway to the search market. Yahoo Search CEO Brian Provost testified in court that about 60 percent of search queries are now conducted through browsers, with many people searching directly from the address bar.

As a result, he said Yahoo began “actively developing a browser prototype internally” last summer to learn what it would take to bring the product to market. He also revealed that Yahoo is in “ongoing discussions” with a number of companies to acquire an existing browser. He declined to identify potential partners.

Provost estimates that it would take six to nine months to complete a prototype of its own browser. But if acquired, Chrome would accelerate Yahoo’s rise. Provost calls Chrome “the most important strategic player on the web today,” and estimates that Yahoo’s search market share could jump from its current 3 percent to double digits if it were acquired.

While he acknowledged that the price tag could be in the tens of billions of dollars, he was confident that Yahoo would be able to raise the necessary capital with the backing of parent company Apollo Global Management. Apollo owns the Netscape browser brand, which has been the focus of another antitrust lawsuit, but Provost insisted it was not an active browser in the market today.

Meanwhile, another competitor ready to jump into this lucrative deal is Perplexity. The company is less than 3 years old, but is looking to establish a position in the field of AI search.

Perplexity Chief Business Officer Dmitry Shevelenko testified in court that he did not want to participate in the Google antitrust hearing because he feared retaliation. But once he was subpoenaed, he used the opportunity to present a big business opportunity: buying Chrome.

If the judge agrees with the Justice Department, Google could be forced to split Chrome from its parent company, which includes Chromium, the open-source browser that many other browsers rely on to build their products.

Google warned that imposing this solution would be “playing with fire,” as the new owner could charge for use or fail to maintain product quality, which would have a knock-on effect on the entire browser industry.

But Perplexity thinks it can fill that role. Asked whether any company other than Google could operate Chrome at scale without sacrificing quality or charging users, Shevelenko replied: “I think we can.”

This is not the first time Perplexity has put itself on the list of companies looking to take over major tech platforms that are in trouble with the US government. The company has also expressed interest in acquiring TikTok, which is under threat of being banned in the US over national security concerns due to its ties to ByteDance, its Chinese parent company.

Source: https://znews.vn/yahoo-muon-mua-chrome-post1548729.html