Perplexity Offers $34.5 Billion For Google Chrome - 1

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Perplexity Offers $34.5 Billion For Google Chrome

  • Written by Andrea Miliani Former Tech News Expert
  • Fact-Checked by Sarah Frazier Former Content Manager

The AI startup Perplexity has proposed purchasing Google’s Chrome browser for $34.5 billion—above the company’s own valuation—this Tuesday. The unsolicited cash offer came just days before the judge’s ruling in Google’s antitrust case.

In a rush? Here are the quick facts:

  • Perplexity offered $34.5 billion for Google’s browser Chrome before the judge’s ruling in the antitrust case.
  • The AI startup’s current estimated value is $18 billion, but investors have backed the proposed deal.
  • Judge Amit Mehta is expected to issue a ruling in the next few days.

According to The New York Times , Perplexity’s CEO, Aravind Srinivas, sent a letter to Alphabet’s Chief Executive, Sundar Pichai, outlining the offer and suggesting it as a solution to the company’s ongoing antitrust issues.

Srinivas explained that the proposal was “designed to satisfy an antitrust remedy in the highest public interest by placing Chrome with a capable, independent operator.”

For months, Alphabet has been engaged in a legal battle with the government of the United States . The court has suggested that Alphabet may need to sell part of its business—such as the Android operating system or the Chrome browser—to address concerns over Google’s search monopoly.

Judge Amit Mehta is expected to issue a ruling in the U.S. District Court case in the coming days.

Perplexity’s $34.5 billion bid—despite the startup’s estimated valuation of around $18 billion—comes before Google has formally offered Chrome for sale and before the judge’s decision. The acquisition could help Perplexity leverage its AI technology in both the search engine and the emerging AI browsers market . The company recently launched Comet, its AI browser, which is currently available only to selected users.

A spokesperson from Perplexity, Jesse Dwyer, told the New York Times that investors had backed the potential offer and understood the business decision. Google has not commented on the proposal.

According to Reuters , it’s not the first time Perplexity has made a bold offer to a company facing U.S. legal pressure. In January, Srinivas submitted a merger proposal for TikTok, suggesting the creation of a new entity with multiple equity partners to address concerns over Chinese ownership.

Kimsuky Data Breach Reveals South Korean Government Targets - 2

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Kimsuky Data Breach Reveals South Korean Government Targets

  • Written by Kiara Fabbri Former Tech News Writer
  • Fact-Checked by Sarah Frazier Former Content Manager

In a rush? Here are the quick facts:

  • North Korean hacker group Kimsuky suffered a major data breach.
  • Hackers ‘Saber’ and ‘cyb0rg’ leaked 8.9GB of Kimsuky’s data.
  • Leak includes phishing logs targeting South Korean government domains.

Two hackers calling themselves ‘Saber’ and ‘cyb0rg’ stole and publicly leaked Kimsuky’s internal data, criticizing the group for their political motives and greed, as first reported by BleepingComputer (BC).

“Kimsuky, you are not a hacker. You are driven by financial greed, to enrich your leaders, and to fulfill their political agenda,” the hackers wrote in a message published in the latest issue of Phrack, as noted by BC.

“You steal from others and favour your own. You value yourself above the others: You are morally perverted,” the message reads.

The leaked data, totaling 8.9GB and hosted on the Distributed Denial of Secrets website, exposes Kimsuky’s tools and some stolen information that could reveal unknown hacking campaigns.

BC reports that among the data are phishing logs targeting South Korean government domains like dcc.mil.kr (Defense Counterintelligence Command), spo.go.kr, and korea.kr, as well as popular platforms such as daum.net, kakao.com, and naver.com.

The leak also includes the full source code of South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs email system, “Kebi,” along with lists of university professors and citizen certificates, as noted by BC.

Tools uncovered include phishing site generators with evasion tricks, live phishing kits, unknown binary files, and hacking utilities like Cobalt Strike loaders and reverse shells.

Additionally, BC says that the dump reveals Chrome browsing histories connected to suspicious GitHub accounts, VPN purchases, and hacking forums. There are signs of activity linked to Taiwan government and military websites and internal SSH connections.

While some of these details were previously known, the leak connects Kimsuky’s tools and operations in new ways, effectively exposing their infrastructure. Security experts say the breach may cause short-term disruptions but is unlikely to stop Kimsuky’s activities long-term.

BC say it is attempting to reach out to security researchers to verify the leak’s authenticity and will update with new information as it becomes available.