Ecosia, a German non-profit organization known for its eponymous search engine and eco-browser, has offered to monitor Google Chrome for free for 10 years. While this seems strange, especially against the backdrop of Perplexity, which is ready to pay $34.5 billion for the browser, such an offer makes sense.
As TechCrunch reports, Ecosia is confident that Chrome will generate $1 trillion in revenue over the next 10 years, which is why companies like Perplexity are willing to pay such large sums. The German company’s proposal is that it will keep 60% of the revenue, or $600 billion over 10 years, and invest it in climate projects, which is the nonprofit’s core mission. 40%, or $400 billion, will go to Google.
In addition to Google continuing to earn revenue from its browser, the company will also own the intellectual property rights to the product, and its search engine may continue to be the default search engine in Chrome. After 10 years, control of the browser may be transferred to another party.
Moreover, Ecosia and Google already have a revenue-sharing partnership, as the German company uses Google to power its search engine. The browser of the same name also uses Chromium, which is what Chrome is powered by. Because of this, the organization's CEO Christian Kroll believes that Ecosia's offering has a right to exist.
Among other benefits for Google is preserving Chrome developer jobs, Kroll says, but the larger goal is to force the court that found Google a monopoly in the search market to consider alternatives to the typical options of selling the browser or spinning off assets.
Recall that the US Department of Justice requires Google to sell Chrome after the tech giant was recognized as a monopolist in the search market. In addition to Perplexity and Ecosia, Yahoo! and OpenAI are also interested in the purchase. The developer of ChatGPT, according to analysts, can offer even more than Perplexity.
At the same time, Google is not going to give up one of its core products so easily. In early June, the company said it would appeal the decision in a US federal court. In its defense, the tech giant says the sale could create risks to users' privacy.