High-Stake Moves in Tech, Trade, Sports, and Finance

13th August 2025

Perplexity AI shocked the tech world with an unsolicited $34.5B bid for Google’s Chrome browser, aiming to leverage its billions of users to compete in the AI search race though analysts doubt Google will sell. President Trump delayed steep tariffs on Chinese goods by 90 days, keeping a fragile truce alive while pressing Beijing to boost U.S. soybean purchases. Paramount struck a $7.7B, seven-year deal to stream all UFC fights on Paramount+, a major sports rights win that could strengthen subscriber retention. Meanwhile, the U.S. national debt hit a record $37T years ahead of forecasts, with rapid borrowing and new spending stoking concerns over higher costs and economic strain. All this in today’s Read It and Eat ! 

Major Headlines 

Perplexity AI Makes Audacious $34.5B Play for Google’s Chrome Browser

Perplexity AI has stunned the tech world with an unsolicited $34.5 billion all-cash offer for Google’s Chrome browser, a move that would see the young AI startup reach far beyond its own $14 billion valuation. The bid, if somehow successful, would give Perplexity access to Chrome’s billions of users, a massive advantage in the increasingly high-stakes AI search battle.

Led by CEO Aravind Srinivas, Perplexity has a knack for swinging big. Earlier this year, the company proposed a merger with TikTok’s U.S. operations to ease concerns over the app’s Chinese ownership. Now, with Chrome in its sights, Perplexity joins other potential suitors including OpenAI, Yahoo, and Apollo Global Management, all circling as regulatory pressure mounts on Google’s dominance in search.

Google, for its part, has not put Chrome up for sale and plans to fight a U.S. court ruling that labeled it an unlawful search monopoly. The Justice Department has floated a potential Chrome divestiture as part of the remedy, but experts say any forced sale could be tied up in appeals for years. In the meantime, Perplexity insists it has full financing lined up, pledging to keep Chrome’s underlying Chromium code open-source, invest $3 billion in improvements, and leave Google as the default search engine.

With its own AI browser, Comet, already in play, acquiring Chrome would catapult Perplexity into the big leagues giving it the scale to go head-to-head with OpenAI, which is also building an AI-powered browser. Still, analysts remain skeptical Google would part ways with such a crucial asset, especially as it rolls out new AI features like “Overviews” to defend its search market share. Whether this bid is the start of a serious acquisition or simply a headline-making power move, it underscores one thing: the fight for the future of search is heating up fast. Reuters 

Trump Pushes Back China Tariff Deadline by 90 Days

President Donald Trump has decided to give U.S. and Chinese negotiators a little more breathing room, delaying the return of steep tariffs on Chinese goods by another 90 days. The tariffs were set to snap back into place Tuesday, but Trump signed an executive order on Monday that pushes the deadline to mid-November, according to a White House official.

The move follows late-July trade talks in Stockholm, where U.S. and Chinese officials worked to keep the fragile tariff truce alive. Without the extension, U.S. duties would have jumped back to April’s eye-watering levels of 145% on Chinese imports prompting China to reinstate its own 125% tariffs on U.S. goods. Those rates were dialed down in May, with Washington cutting its tariffs to 30% and Beijing lowering its duties to 10% after a meeting in Geneva.

For businesses caught in the crossfire, the announcement is another reminder of how unpredictable Trump’s trade policy can be. Over the past year, tariffs have been rolled out, scaled back, delayed, and then reintroduced in altered form often with little warning. The pattern continued just last week, when “reciprocal tariffs” first unveiled in April finally took effect, but in a modified version.

Trump also used the occasion to push for more U.S. agricultural sales, saying on Sunday that he wants China to “quickly quadruple” its orders of American soybeans. He framed it as a way to help shrink the U.S. trade deficit with China. Soybean prices in Chicago rose Monday, though it’s unclear whether Beijing has agreed to boost purchases in response. Yahoo.Finance 

Paramount Lands $7.7B UFC Deal, Ups the Streaming Stakes

Paramount is making its boldest sports move yet, sealing a seven-year, $7.7 billion deal to become the exclusive U.S. home of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Starting next year, Paramount+ subscribers will get access to all 13 numbered UFC events and 30 additional fight nights each year with no extra pay-per-view fees required. Select bouts will also air on CBS, giving the sport a broader broadcast presence. At roughly $1.1 billion annually, the price tag more than doubles what TKO Group Holdings was getting from ESPN, and Paramount may also pursue international rights when they become available.

The shift is big for UFC fans: instead of juggling subscriptions and pay-per-view costs, they’ll find every fight included in their Paramount+ plan. For Paramount, adding a sport with a year-round schedule could help keep subscribers engaged between NFL, college football, golf, and soccer seasons. “The UFC is a unicorn sports asset,” said David Ellison, who took control of Paramount last week, noting that no other platform will have such a high-profile sport entirely to itself.

TKO executives Ari Emanuel and Mark Shapiro had quietly been testing the market for UFC rights all year, drawing interest from Amazon, YouTube, Warner Bros. Discovery, Fox, and Netflix. ESPN had the first shot at renewal but let the opportunity pass, opening the door for Paramount’s aggressive play. While the UFC has faced challenges in creating new breakout stars lately, its strong following among younger audiences and global fan base proved enough to command one of the richest rights deals in sports streaming. Yahoo.Finance 

U.S. Debt Hits Record $37 Trillion, Growing Faster Than Ever

The U.S. government’s gross national debt has soared past $37 trillion a milestone the Treasury Department confirmed Tuesday. It’s a staggering figure that arrived years earlier than expected and underscores mounting pressure on taxpayers and the broader economy. Back in January 2020, the Congressional Budget Office projected we wouldn’t reach this number until after 2030. But pandemic-era borrowing under both Presidents Trump and Biden, combined with recent spending measures, accelerated the timeline dramatically.

A big driver of the latest jump is the Republicans’ tax cut and spending package signed into law earlier this year, which is expected to add $4.1 trillion to the debt over the next decade. Michael Peterson, head of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, warned that growing debt pushes interest rates higher, “adding costs for everyone” and crowding out other national priorities. Economists note that higher debt can mean pricier mortgages and car loans, lower wages, and higher costs for goods and services.

The pace of borrowing is striking: the U.S. hit $34 trillion in January 2024, $35 trillion in July, $36 trillion in November  and now $37 trillion just five months later. That’s more than twice as fast as the average over the past 25 years. At the current rate, we could see another trillion added in less than six months.

Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, summed up the concern bluntly: “Hopefully this milestone is enough to wake up policymakers to the reality that we need to do something  and we need to do it quickly.” Yahoo.Finance 

Minor Headlines 

• Trump eyes IPO for mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Yahoo.Finance 

• CoreWeave, Circle’s post-IPO surge sets tough earnings benchmark. Bloomberg 

• U.S. tariff revenue hits record $27.7B in July. Yahoo.Finance 

• Fed vice chairs, Dallas Fed president seen as potential successors to Jerome Powell. Bloomberg 

• Trump appoints economist E.J. Antoni as new Bureau of Labor Statistics chief. CNBC 

• Unusual Nvidia export deal sparks corporate and national security concerns. Reuters 

• Trump reverses stance on Intel CEO after meeting. CNBC

Citi CEO Jane Fraser visits Mexico for Banamex stake discussions. Bloomberg