• by Laurie Sullivan , Yesterday

Search.com, which ad.com acquired in July, became the second company to publicly make an official bid for Google's Chrome browser.

The bid of $35 billion, follows Perplexity's $34.5 billion bid made earlier this month. 

The offer is backed by JP Morgan and several private equity groups. 

Search.com and Ad.com are subsidiaries within the Public Good family of companies, which is owned by Ad.com Interactive Media Inc. 

“As AI advances at an unprecedented pace, it’s essential to make its benefits accessible to all — while steadfastly upholding ethical principles,” said Melissa Anderson, President, Public Good.

The company behind search.com does not currently have its own stand-alone web browser. 

Anderson believes that with Chrome owning 65% of global browser traffic, embedding AI must be equitable, and this could determine the future of how 3 billion people access information.

Search.com promises something different -- cash back for users, revenue sharing for publishers, and an "end to ad-cluttered web experience that has suffocated the internet for decades."

As the Department of Justice makes a decision about remedies in Google’s antitrust trial, Google could be forced to sell Chrome. The move could reshape the entire internet by Christmas, according to Anderson.

Search.com is a division of Public Good, a digital marketing company owned by Ad.com, which acquired it in July 2025. It works with publishers, brands and consumers.

AdMedia, a private company backed by JP Morgan and several private equity groups, will fund the deal. Given Ad.com’s long-standing relationships with hundreds of major brands, the deal represents an immediate opportunity to increase users and advertising revenue. 

Executives at Ad.com, Search.com’s parent company, believe the company is positioned to support brand advertisers by giving them the opportunity to meet people in AI chat when they seek products and services.

While Ad.com has experience in advertising, Perplexity has just entered the space, putting them behind in the ability to scale advertiser revenue.

Ad.com has been supporting advertising since 1998. It has a global presence spanning the U.S., U.K., India and Dubai. The company said it supports an extensive family of digital advertising companies that connect brands to audiences.

In the U.S. alone, the portfolio has worked with more than half of the Fortune 500.