Search engine Ecosia latest to show interest in buying out Chrome
Ecosia, the sustainable search engine from Berlin, wants to take over Google’s Chrome browser without paying for it. Instead, Ecosia would like to use 60% of revenues for climate projects, with the rest going to Google.
According to Ecosia, Google would then be allowed to keep the intellectual property and Google would even be allowed to keep providing the default search engine. Ecosia only wants to assume management of the browser for a period of 10 years, after which it would reconsider. The current development team would remain.
Ecosia says the proposal is addressed to the judge responsible for deciding the future of Chrome, to show that alternatives to sales are possible.
The proposal stems from an ongoing lawsuit by the US Department of Justice (DoJ) and several states accusing Google of abuse of power. Google allegedly ensured, through payments to device and browser manufacturers, that their search engine was set as default, which is seen as an illegal restriction of competition. Justice wants Google to spin off Chrome. Whether it will ever come to that is questionable, Google will oppose it and legal proceedings may drag on for years.
Earlier bids were made by Perplexity AI, which wants to acquire Chrome outright for $34.5 billion, and Search.com, which is offering slightly more. Ecosia is thus the third bidder. The search engine puts all earnings directly into planting trees. Last year, it released its own Chromium-based ‘green’ Web browser.
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