As Apple races to keep pace in the generative AI landscape, a new report indicates the company is considering its largest acquisition to date.
According to Bloomberg, Apple leaders have discussed a potential acquisition of Perplexity AI, a rapidly growing startup recognized for its conversational web search platform.
This could be Apple’s largest acquisition to date
As noted by Mark Gurman, discussions are in the preliminary stages and may not culminate in a formal offer. However, the notion has been reportedly circulated among Apple’s mergers and acquisitions head Adrian Perica, services chief Eddy Cue, and key AI executives within the company.
Perplexity recently wrapped up a funding round that valued the company at $14 billion, making its acquisition a significant move for Apple, far surpassing the $3 billion spent on Beats in 2014.
Here’s what Gurman has to say regarding the potential acquisition:
“Acquiring Perplexity would provide Apple with a boost in AI talent, a recognized brand in the AI field, and a consumer product. A successful deal might also enhance future recruitment efforts.”
While the report claims Apple has had several meetings with Perplexity recently, and its internal AI teams are closely analyzing the technology, Apple has opted not to comment, and Perplexity stated it has “no information about any ongoing or future M&A discussions.”
Reasons for acquiring Perplexity
First, there’s the potential risk of Apple’s $20 billion annual search arrangement with Google being disrupted due to the ongoing antitrust investigations by the US government. Eddy Cue himself hinted at this during his testimony earlier this year, noting that the industry is shifting from conventional web search towards AI-driven solutions.
Second, Perplexity already possesses something Apple lacks: a consumer-oriented AI search product with real-time web capabilities and brand recognition in the AI sector, at a significantly lower (though still high) price compared to rivals like OpenAI. Perplexity even features its own iPhone assistant, which, despite certain limitations, performs better than Siri and ChatGPT in various tasks.
This could explain why, in addition to a full acquisition, Apple is also rumored to be investigating a potential partnership, which might see Perplexity integrated into Safari as a search alternative or included in Siri’s responses.
A complicating factor: Samsung. The report reveals that Samsung is nearing the completion of its own significant partnership with Perplexity, which could complicate any exclusive agreement for Apple. It’s also noteworthy that Bloomberg reported earlier today that Meta has also explored acquisition discussions with Perplexity but seems to have shifted focus to its recent $14B investment in Scale AI instead.
Do you believe Apple should acquire Perplexity? If not them, which company do you think Apple should target instead? Share your thoughts in the comments.
