Google may have to part ways with Chrome. And, in a twist that we didn't see coming, Yahoo seems to be one of the most serious candidates for acquisition.
The United States Department of Justice intends to dismantle Google to challenge its hegemony in the digital industry and foster a competitive environment. The option currently on the table is to force the company to divest itself of Chrome, its web browser. If that fails, Plan B is to force Google to sell its Android business.
But for now, it's Chrome's future that's the focus. And there's no shortage of suitors to acquire the browser, far from it. OpenAI has already expressed interest in the idea of buying Chrome, but this recent player in the market will have to deal with the interest of an industry veteran: Yahoo.
Yahoo, OpenAI and Perplexity are monitoring the Chrome situation
The information was shared on the fourth day of the trial initiated by the Justice Department and aimed at ending Google's monopoly on web search, reports The Verge. For Brian Provost, CEO of Yahoo Search, having its own browser would make it easier to push its search engine to consumers. He explains that Yahoo is currently in discussions with several companies to acquire a browser, and that Chrome is therefore one of the options.
At the same time, Yahoo is developing a browser prototype internally. However, an acquisition would allow for growth much faster than starting from scratch, especially if it involves Chrome. Brian Provost predicts that Yahoo's search market share could increase from 3% to more than 10% if it acquires Chrome.
Yahoo estimates that such a purchase would cost tens of billions of dollars. The financing would be made possible thanks to the support of Apollo Global Management, its owner. The latter already owns a browser brand, NetScape, through its subsidiary AOL, but this is no longer active.
As part of this trial, other major internet players were questioned about a possible acquisition of Chrome. Perplexity expressed interest, while DuckDuckGo indicated that such an operation was not financially within its reach.
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