Yahoo Eyes Chrome Acquisition While Prototyping its own Browser
Yahoo is stepping back into the browser game—and it has its sights sethigh. In a surprising revelation, Yahoo has confirmed that it’s working on aprototype for its own web browser. Even more notably, the company expressedinterest in acquiring Google Chrome, should a court ruling compel Google tosell it.
This development came to light during the fourth day of the U.S. JusticeDepartment's remedies trial against Google. The case centres on the techgiant’s alleged search monopoly, and one potential remedy under discussion isforcing Google to divest its Chrome browser. The DOJ argues that Chrome plays apivotal role in maintaining Google’s dominance in search, as it's a majorgateway through which users access Google Search.
Yahoo isn’t alone in showing interest. While DuckDuckGo’s CEO admitted theycouldn’t afford a purchase of that scale, Perplexity and OpenAI haveindicated they'd be keen on acquiring the browser, if given the chance.
Yahoo’s renewed focus on browsers reflects a larger strategic goal.According to Brian Provost, Yahoo’s General Manager of Search, about 60% ofonline search queries originate from a web browser, often directly through theaddress bar. “That’s why,” Provost explained during his testimony, “since lastsummer Yahoo has been actively internally developing a prototype of a browser”to explore what it would take to bring one to market.
Provost mentioned that building this prototype could take between six tonine months. However, buying an established product like Chrome woulddrastically accelerate Yahoo’s entry into the browser race. He called Chrome“arguably the most important strategic player on the web,” and noted thatacquiring it could potentially push Yahoo’s market share from 3% into double digits.
The price tag for Chrome wouldn’t be cheap. Provost estimated it could costtens of billions of dollars. Still, Yahoo is confident it could pull off thepurchase with the financial backing of its parent company, Apollo GlobalManagement. Interestingly, Apollo already owns another browser brand involvedin a separate antitrust case. However, Provost was quick to clarify that hedoesn’t consider that brand to be active in the market.
While Yahoo hasn’t publicly named which companies it’s discussing potentialbrowser acquisitions with, Provost confirmed that such conversations are indeedongoing. Whether through development or acquisition, Yahoo is clearly preparingfor a bigger role in the future of web browsing.