Yahoo Joins OpenAI on List of Suitors for Google Chrome

Yahoo has joined the list of potential buyers for Google Chrome, after ChatGPT maker OpenAI expressed interest earlier this week.

The news comes as Google may soon be forced to divest Chrome, following the outcome of a Department of Justice lawsuit in August 2024. Judge Amit Mehta ruled that “Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly” in the search space, employing anti-competitive practices in the process. Though a sale is not yet confirmed, it’s one of several proposed remedies currently on the table.

Brian Provost, the general manager for Yahoo Search, said Chrome is “arguably the most important strategic player on the web” in a recent hearing, first reported by Bloomberg.

The executive said that Yahoo “would be able to pursue” the acquisition with the support of Apollo Global Management, a private equity firm that acquired Yahoo in 2021.

Provost also said Yahoo is currently developing its own web browser as part of plans to “revitalize” its search offering, and would also consider the purchase of other browsers.

The news follows another statement of interest from a senior executive at OpenAI earlier this week. ChatGPT head of product Nick Turley said OpenAI was interested in buying the browser, and told the court how having access to Google’s technology would help improve the quality of OpenAI’s products. OpenAI has increasingly been prioritizing its own search offering since the launch of SearchGPT last year.

Though their paths have diverged, Yahoo and Google have a long shared history in the world of web search. Yahoo was at one point the most popular search engine in the world, before slowly losing its market share to Google in the early 2000s.

Google’s legal team certainly isn’t letting the prized browser go without a fight, however. Google has argued that a sale of Chrome would endanger the future of Chromium, the open-source browser that serves as the foundation for Microsoft Edge, Opera, and Samsung Internet. It’s also argued that data security issues could arise if Chrome was to be transferred to a new or foreign owner.

Other, more left-field suitors for Chrome have emerged, including AI start-up Perplexity earlier this week. But it’s unclear how a company of that size could fund the purchase of such a popular web browser.

About Will McCurdy

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I’m a reporter covering weekend news. Before joining PCMag in 2024, I picked up bylines in BBC News, The Guardian, The Times of London, The Daily Beast, Vice, Slate, Fast Company, The Evening Standard, The i, TechRadar, and Decrypt Media.

I’ve been a PC gamer since you had to install games from multiple CD-ROMs by hand. As a reporter, I’m passionate about the intersection of tech and human lives. I’ve covered everything from crypto scandals to the art world, as well as conspiracy theories, UK politics, and Russia and foreign affairs.

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