Legacy internet brand Yahoo has expressed interest in acquiring Google Chrome, should a court mandate its divestiture, as part of the ongoing U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) antitrust trial against Google.
The revelation came during the trial’s fourth day, where the DOJ is seeking to address Google’s alleged search monopoly by potentially requiring the company to sell its Chrome browser.
Yahoo Search General Manager Brian Provost testified that a majority of search queries—around 60%—are initiated through web browsers, especially via address bars. This underscores the strategic importance of browser ownership in the search ecosystem.
Provost confirmed that Yahoo has been internally developing a prototype browser since last summer, with a development timeline of six to nine months. However, acquiring an existing browser, such as Chrome, would accelerate its entry into the browser market.
Yahoo is not alone in its interest. Representatives from AI companies Perplexity and OpenAI also expressed willingness to acquire Chrome, though DuckDuckGo admitted it lacks the financial capability for such a deal. Provost estimated that Chrome’s acquisition would cost tens of billions of dollars, a figure Yahoo could potentially meet with the financial backing of its parent company, Apollo Global Management.
Interestingly, Apollo also owns the now-defunct browser brand Netscape, once a major player in the early web era. While Yahoo considers it inactive, the company sees Chrome as “arguably the most important strategic player on the web,” capable of significantly boosting Yahoo’s current 3% search market share into double digits.
