DuckDuckGo chief executive Gabriel Weinberg told Judge Amit Mehta that Google Chrome could ask “upwards of $50 billion” if regulators force Alphabet Inc. to divest the product from its search empire.

Federal antitrust hearings took an unexpected turn Wednesday when a chief rival put a hefty price on Google’s flagship browser. Weinberg shared the figure during the Justice Department’s three-week remedies hearing in Washington, reported by Bloomberg. Calling his number “back-of-the-envelope” math based on Chrome’s vast user base, he added, “that’s out of DuckDuckGo’s price range.”

The government and a coalition of states argue that selling Chrome is the surest way to undo Google’s illegal grip on online search, a monopoly Mehta found last year.

The $50 billion estimate tops the roughly $20 billion valuation put forward in November by Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Mandeep Singh.

Weinberg acknowledged that a tag that large could scare off buyers if the court orders a divestiture. Google itself has not offered Chrome for sale and plans to appeal the monopoly ruling.

Interest in buying Google Chrome is not limited to search competitors

Executives from artificial-intelligence firms OpenAI and Perplexity testified earlier in the hearing that their companies would explore a bid should Chrome hit the market. OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, already leans on Microsoft’s Bing to get search results inside its chatbot.

Prosecutors contend Google’s dominance in search also gives it a head start in artificial intelligence, allowing the company to steer users back to its core advertising business.

In opening remarks Monday, Justice Department lawyers said newer AI features, including Google’s own Gemini products, could become yet another “on-ramp” to the company’s search engine.

Government witness Aaron Turley said Google declined OpenAI’s request to license its search application-programming interface last summer.

According to an email shown in court, OpenAI first approached Google in July and received a rejection in August, after Google warned the deal would “involve too many competitors.” OpenAI told Google that access to the API would help it “provide a better product to users.”

Judge Mehta is considering several possible fixes, from product changes to an outright sale of Chrome. His decision, expected later this year, will determine whether one of the most popular gateways to the internet remains under Google’s roof or gains a new owner.

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