The difficulty of apples in generating AI has triggered shareholder litigation, highlighting the firm ‘ s apparent vulnerability in this critical area. Meanwhile, competitors like OpenAI, Meta and Microsoft are continuing to expand their lead. Apples are reportedly actively seeking ways to break the rules, and executives are considering the acquisition of the leading AI start-up company Perplexity to accelerate its AI development.
According to Mark Gurman of Bloomberg, the head of the Apple Service, Eddie Cue, and the head of the M & As, Adrian Perica, have held confidential consultations on the acquisition of Perplexity. Negotiations are at an early stage, and there is a possibility that a deal could not be reached. Perplexity responded that it “has no knowledge of any current or future M&A negotiations involving its company”.
A key factor influencing the acquisition of apples is the variation of their lucrative default search engine agreement with Google. Currently, Google pays about $20 billion annually to apples to maintain its status as the default searcher for the Safari browser. However, pressure from antimonopoly regulators could lead to the termination of the agreement, which gave Apple a strong incentive to acquire Perplexity, albeit at high cost.
The current valuation of Perplexity amounts to $14 billion, and if Apple completes its acquisition at this price, it will record the largest purchase in the company ‘ s history, well above the $3 billion of Beats headphones acquired in 2014.
AppleInsider, an internal Apple publication, stated that contact with Perplexity was not an accident. In Google’s antimonopoly proceedings, Eddie Cu had acknowledged that Apple had “engaged with Perplexity” and expressed appreciation for the achievements of AI. Craig Federighi, Senior Vice President of Apple Software Engineering, also said that the company was working with “multi-partners” to provide a better AI experience, suggesting that some form of cooperation might be possible in the future.
Even if Perplexity refused to be acquired, it would be possible for the parties to cooperate in depth. Apple or deep integration of the Perplexity AI search engine into the Safari browser, with the use of Perplexity technology to enhance Siri ‘ s capacity, is expected to be rolled out around 2026.