Apple has held in-house talks considering an acquisition of Perplexity AI, according to a Bloomberg report. This would help the tech giant advance its AI ventures. Sources told Bloomberg that Adrian Perica, the company’s head of mergers and acquisitions (M&A), has discussed the idea with services chief Eddy Cue and key AI decision-makers. The talks are in their early stages and might not necessarily lead to an offer.
This acquisition will help Apple build an AI-powered search engine. Apple has shown an interest in AI-powered search engines following uncertainty over its yearlong deal with Google. The Bloomberg report said the talks for this deal would likely happen following the ruling in the Google antitrust trial. The outcome of this trial would decide whether Apple’s deal with Google would continue.
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Perplexity provides real-time answers to questions using the latest information from the web. The company recently said it is handling 780 million queries each month with that figure increasing more than 20% month over month. Google shares reversed gains and fell nearly 1% in late trading after Bloomberg reported on Apple’s Perplexity discussions.
Perplexity told Bloomberg that the company has no knowledge of “any current or future M&A discussions involving Perplexity.”
Perplexity recently completed an investment round which valued it at $14 billion. This would make the deal Apple’s biggest acquisition if it goes through.
Apple is not the only company that has shown an interest in Perplexity. Meta had also reportedly approached the startup for a takeover deal that ended up not going through. Following the failed acquisition, Meta bought a 49% slice of Scale AI for $14.3 billion. Apple also tried to persuade Safe Superintelligence CEO Daniel Gross to join the company, however he joined Meta instead.
Perplexity recently announced it is planning to open up its Comet browser that’s powered by “agentic search” to Windows users. CEO Aravind Srinivas announced via X that the Windows build of Comet is ready and has sent out invites to early testers already. He also hinted at a potential release for Android devices, adding that it was “moving at a crazy pace and moving ahead of schedule.”
Perplexity had launched a beta version of its AI-powered Comet browser, only available to Mac users running Apple Silicon in May. This browser has a number of baked-in AI features including the ability to ask it questions, check shopping carts for discounts and dig up unanswered emails. The beta version even showcases a “Try on” feature where users can upload a photo of themselves and Comet will generate an image of them wearing a selected piece of clothing.
Earlier, Srinivas stirred up controversy by stating in a podcast interview that Perplexity would use Comet “to get data even outside the app to better understand you.” He later clarified that the comment was taken out of context, adding that “every user will be given the option to not be part of the personalization” when it comes to targeted ads. Comet is currently offering a waitlist for those interested.