Apple executives have been discussing the possibility of the company making a bid to acquire Perplexity AI, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. Perplexity is one of the leading AI startups that has proven popular as an AI-infused web search engine.
Mergers and acquisitions chief Adrian Perica, services head Eddy Cue, and other executives overseeing Apple’s AI efforts have been participating in the discussions, which Gurman says “are at an early stage and may not lead to an offer.” Apple declined to comment, while Perplexity said that it has “no knowledge of any current or future M&A discussions involving Perplexity.”
Whether or not Apple makes a bid for Perplexity may hinge on the outcome of the ongoing Google antitrust trial, as Apple’s deal with the search engine giant to make Google the default search engine on Apple devices and which brings Apple roughly $20 billion per year could be nullified as part of a ruling against Google.
Perplexity’s most recent funding round valued the company at $14 billion, so an outright acquisition by Apple would undoubtedly be by far the largest deal in the Cupertino company’s history, topping its $3 billion purchase of Beats over a decade ago.
As an alternative to an acquisition, Apple could instead choose to partner with Perplexity to add its AI search capabilities to Safari and Siri, and the two companies have met multiple times in recent months to discuss Perplexity’s technology. Perplexity is, however, said to be close to a far-reaching deal with Samsung to bringing its AI features to the phones of Apple’s biggest rival, a move that could complicate any potential deal with Apple.
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