Apple in Talks to Acquire Perplexity AI
Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) is reportedly considering the acquisition of Perplexity AI, a company valued at $14 billion following a recent funding round. This move comes as Apple faces investor frustration over its slow rollout of AI features, with its stock down 15% since the beginning of the year, trading at 31 times its trailing earnings.
Perplexity AI, known for its chatbot and capable of real-time web searches, has approximately 15 million active monthly users, a fraction compared to ChatGPT’s 400 million users weekly. While the acquisition could enhance Apple’s AI capabilities, the tech giant, which has over $28 billion in cash reserves, may still struggle to incorporate advanced AI features into its iPhones, delaying some until next year. iPhone sales have remained flat at around $116 billion over the past six months.
