"Meta's Attempt to Acquire Perplexity Falls Through"

US CNBC Reports
"Perplexity Declined the Offer"

According to a report by the US business media outlet CNBC on June 20 (local time), Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook (hereafter Meta), recently attempted to acquire the AI-based search engine startup Perplexity AI (hereafter Perplexity), but the deal fell through.

According to foreign media, a source stated that Meta had approached Perplexity for an acquisition, but the deal did not materialize and negotiations ended by mutual agreement. Another source said, "Perplexity withdrew from the negotiations."

The reason for the breakdown of the negotiations has not been disclosed. Last month, Perplexity raised $500 million in investment, and the company was valued at $14 billion.

Earlier this year, Meta also attempted to acquire Safe Superintelligence (SSI), but that deal was unsuccessful as well. At that time, SSI was valued at $32 billion. Instead, Meta reportedly recruited Daniel Gross, CEO and co-founder of SSI, as well as Nat Friedman, former CEO of GitHub. Gross and Friedman are expected to join the superintelligence development team led by Scale AI CEO Alexander Wang, whom Meta brought in with a large-scale investment. In addition, Meta agreed to acquire a stake in NFDG, a venture capital firm jointly operated by Gross and Friedman, as part of their recruitment.

Foreign media reported that Meta's broad efforts to acquire outstanding AI startups or recruit top talent reflect its strong determination to strengthen its AI capabilities. As one of its biggest competitors, OpenAI, continues to lead in both AI models and consumer apps, Meta is reportedly growing anxious and is taking extreme measures to secure top-tier AI talent, according to CNBC.