Back on April 21st, we saw the beginnings of an antitrust case against Google begin. It built off of a previous case from August 2024 that found the company guilty of operating a monopoly, so this current case is set to answer the question: how should Google break up its business to make it fairer for the competition?
So far, the judge presiding over the case has their sights set on one asset: Google Chrome. They claim that the best way to provide fairness back to the market is to have Google sell its browser to a competitor. If that fails, then Android would be next. And while Google is understandably trying to get the case thrown out, the biggest tech businesses in the world are queuing up to potentially bid on the browser, such as OpenAI and Yahoo.
Okay, so let’s do a little thought experiment here. Let’s say the judge forces Google to sell Chrome, and the browser is now on the market. But how much is Google Chrome worth? Does anyone really know? And what elements would factor into an asking price?
An intelligence analyst believes it will fetch $15-20 billion
Would it surprise you if I told you this was the lowest the estimates get?
The first murmurs we heard of a potential price tag for Chrome happened back when the first antitrust case finished. Even then, Chrome was going to be the first on the chopping block, and people were already wondering how much Google Chrome would sell for.
At this stage of the game, there is only one estimate that gets circulated. It’s from Bloomberg, and the source is the publication’s own intelligence analyst. Here’s what they said back in November:
Should a sale proceed, Chrome would be worth “at least $15-$20 billion, given it has over 3 billion monthly active users,” said Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Mandeep Singh.
Even here, we’re seeing people feel uncertain about slapping a static price tag on a browser. Bob O’Donnell of TECHnalysis Research had this to say:
“It’s not directly monetizable. It serves as a gateway to other things. It’s not clear how you measure that from a pure revenue-generating perspective.”
Bob makes an excellent point. Google Chrome’s worth isn’t in the materials used to make it or the revenue it draws. It’s essentially paying for a gateway, and the price will come down to how many people use that gateway and what their usage is worth.
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DuckDuckGo’s CEO roughly estimates a price tag above $50 billion
Now we’re talking big leagues
The second estimate we see passed around comes from April 23rd, during the second court case. This time, DuckDuckGo’s CEO, Gabriel Weinberg, sat down and performed “back-of-the-envelope” math on how much Google Chrome would sell for. While it is a rough estimation at best, Gabriel’s unique position as CEO of a big search engine provider does shed some light onto how much a browser can go for.
As reported by Bloomberg, Gabriel arrived at a value that’s a little too pricey for his liking:
“I think it’s upwards of $50 billion if it went on the market, and that’s out of DuckDuckGo’s price range.”
If DuckDuckGo did acquire Google Chrome in a potential sale, it would have been a huge boost to the company’s search engine metrics and may have allowed it to rival Google’s own service in terms of user base. Given the staunch competition, however, Gabriel’s conclusion is probably the most realistic.
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The final total may go even higher as big movers shift their money
$50 billion may just be the start
If Google Chrome does go on sale, there’s a good chance it won’t be put up with a static price tag and sold to whoever “adds it to cart” first. Instead, it’s far more likely that Google will hear out offers from interested parties and sell it to the one who can offer the most money. As such, the price that Google Chrome goes for will depend on who’s in the queue and how much they have to offer.
Right now, we have three interested parties: OpenAI, Perplexity, and Yahoo. The latter two companies may not have billions to throw around, but OpenAI definitely does, with the last valuation estimating that the company is worth $300 billion. As such, if OpenAI wanted to outbid the other two companies, it certainly has the power.
But remember, these are just early birds expressing interest. If Google Chrome does go on the market, we may see other tech companies jump into the mix with even bigger offers. Perhaps Amazon wants to get into the browser game. Maybe Nvidia will step in with dreams of turning Google Chrome into an AI-based browser. And maybe, just maybe, Microsoft will win out in the sale and finally achieve one of its greatest goals: getting everyone to use Edge.
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All we can do is wait and see
Let’s not jump ahead too far here, though. The sale has yet to be confirmed, and there’s a chance that nobody will be able to get their hands on the most popular browser on the market. However, if it does, we’ll likely see a money-waving competition that will total in the tens, if not hundreds, of billions of dollars.
