Yahoo Will Also Try to Get Chrome If Opportunity Arrives

Yahoo, the owner of the search engine of the same name, has announced its intention to buy the Chrome browser if a court forces Google to sell it. The company has thus joined the list of those wishing to acquire the browser, which also includes such companies as OpenAI and Perplexity.

Image source: Yahoo

Yahoo’s statement came on the fourth day of the Justice Department’s lawsuit against Google, which accuses the company of abusing its dominant position in the online search market and demands that Chrome be spun off into a separate company. The case is being heard in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, presided over by Judge Amit Mehta.

Yahoo Search CEO Brian Provost, who appeared in court to testify, said the company had been “actively developing a prototype browser” since last summer. He added that Yahoo “continues” to discuss buying Chrome with other companies, without disclosing who exactly those talks are with.

Provost said it could take six to nine months to prototype a custom browser, so acquiring Chrome would be a much faster way to get there.

The CEO of Yahoo Search noted that about 60% of search queries are performed through a web browser – many users search directly from the address bar. That is why Yahoo is developing its own browser.

Provost called Chrome “arguably the most important strategic player on the Internet” and emphasized that its acquisition would allow Yahoo to increase its share of the search market from its current 3% to double-digit figures. He estimated the Chrome deal at tens of billions of dollars, noting that Yahoo would be able to afford it with the support of its owner, Apollo Global Management.

Apollo also owns the Netscape browser brand, which was at the center of another antitrust case, The Verge reported. However, Provost clarified that he does not consider Netscape a valid browser.