Why Apple-Perplexity Merger Would Be Nearly Impossible (And Maybe a Mistake)
In the history of tech, a few near-miss acquisition stories have become legend. Yahoo passed on buying Google for $1 million. Years later, it tried to buy Facebook for $1 billion. Facebook, wisely, said no. Had it said yes, Facebook likely wouldn’t exist today as we know it. Big fish don’t always know what to do with the more nimble, visionary minnows they try to swallow.
Now, a similar narrative is taking shape—only this time, the stakes are far higher. Rumors or speculation around Apple acquiring Perplexity AI—for a price that could top $200 billion—are swirling among analysts and insiders. But even if Apple could afford it, the real question is: Should it?
The answer, on multiple fronts, is likely no.
1. Mismatch of Cultures and Visions
Apple is a design-first, hardware-dominated, tightly integrated ecosystem company. Its product lifecycles are measured in years. Its DNA is secrecy, perfectionism, and control.
Perplexity, on the other hand, is a high-speed AI-native startup. Its core value lies in openness, information flow, and decentralization. It's building something more akin to an AI-infused, real-time knowledge engine for the internet. It iterates rapidly and is redefining what search, learning, and even cognition look like in a post-Google era.
Merging these two would be like trying to graft a hummingbird's wings onto an elephant. Even if the elephant pays $200 billion for those wings, it still won’t fly.
2. AI Breaks Silos — Apple Reinforces Them
AI-native companies like Perplexity aim to dissolve traditional silos—between apps, between knowledge domains, between user and machine. In contrast, Apple thrives by maintaining carefully walled gardens. From the App Store to iCloud to iMessage, Apple monetizes control.
That fundamental misalignment would make integration difficult, if not self-destructive.
An AI like Perplexity wants to answer everything, connect everything, go everywhere. Apple wants everything to go through Apple.
3. Without Leadership Transfer, It’s DOA
Let’s imagine Apple does buy Perplexity for $200 billion. If it doesn’t hand over a significant degree of operational autonomy—or better yet, elevate the Perplexity CEO to a top Apple leadership role—then it risks smothering the very magic it paid for.
You can’t buy vision, and you certainly can’t tame it. If Perplexity is absorbed into Apple as just another feature, like Siri once was, it will go the way of MySpace after its acquisition—stagnant and irrelevant. The deal would only make sense if Apple were ready to transform itself into an AI-native company and let Perplexity lead that transformation. But there's no indication Apple is even thinking that way.
4. Timing and Trajectory Matter
When Yahoo tried to buy Facebook, it was still the dominant portal. Facebook was growing but still small. Today, Perplexity is on the rise. It’s not a mature, stagnant startup looking for an exit. It's at the early stages of a trajectory that could reshape how we interact with knowledge entirely.
Selling to Apple now would cap its potential—both in market value and world impact. $200 billion may look tempting, but in the AI era, platforms that become the new internet interface might be worth trillions.
Why sell to a hardware company whose AI track record is—let’s be honest—lackluster?
Conclusion: Some Marriages Just Shouldn't Happen
The potential Perplexity brings to the table is too important, too expansive, and too transformative to be folded into Apple’s conservative, hardware-bound future. Unless Apple is willing to completely reinvent itself and hand the reins to AI-native leadership, such a merger would likely end in regret.
It wouldn’t be a strategic acquisition—it would be a slow-motion funeral for a company that might otherwise lead the next era of human-computer symbiosis.
Better idea? Let Perplexity keep flying. Let Apple keep building its walls. The future will reward the company that opens the most doors.
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— Paramendra Kumar Bhagat (@paramendra) June 26, 2025
Yahoo once tried to buy Facebook for $1B. Facebook said no—and changed the world.
Now whispers suggest Apple might eye Perplexity AI for $200B. But this deal, if real, would be nearly impossible—and maybe a terrible idea. Here's why 🧵@perplexity_ai @_Faraz @AravSrinivas
