AI search startup Perplexity has parted ways with Taz Patel, its head of advertising and shopping, less than a year after he joined.
Patel joined Perplexity in December 2024 with the remit of expanding the company’s advertising unit. Before that, he co-founded and served as chief revenue officer at influencer marketing firm Captiv8, which was acquired by Publicis Groupe earlier this year.
Neither Patel nor Perplexity commented on his next move or any plans to fill the role. In a statement, Perplexity vice president of business Ryan Foutty thanked Patel and stressed that the company’s momentum remains unchanged.
“It’s been great to have Taz on our team, and we wish him all the best in his future endeavours,” Foutty said. “Perplexity is driven by velocity and curiosity, so our work continues unchanged and we still partner with the world’s best marketers and merchants who want to experiment and develop the best consumer experiences for the AI age.”
The San Francisco-based startup, valued at around $28 billion (AUD) after a July fundraise, has been experimenting with ways to monetise its fast-growing platform. Its ad business is still in its early stages, bringing in just $30,000 (AUD) in the final quarter of 2024, with the likes of TurboTax, Indeed, and Whole Foods having tested placements. Perplexity has also added shopping features and partnered with podcasts to showcase its real-time Q&A capability.
The company reportedly surpassed $100 million in annualised revenue earlier this year but is juggling heavy marketing spend, legal disputes with publishers, and efforts to strike licensing deals.
In 2024, News Corp filed a lawsuit against the AI search engine, accusing Perplexity of infringing upon copyrighted content by copying news articles, analyses, and opinions “on a massive scale”.
The legal document outlines serious allegations, including Perplexity’s practice of reproducing content “verbatim.” News Corp further asserts that the AI engine has misattributed facts and analyses, occasionally citing incorrect sources and, at times, fabricating news stories altogether. According to the lawsuit, News Corp attempted to address these issues with Perplexity in July by sending a letter suggesting a potential licensing agreement, but the publishing giant received no response.
In its lawsuit, News Corp seeks a court order to compel Perplexity to cease using its content without permission and to destroy any databases containing its works.
This lawsuit was not the first instance of controversy surrounding Perplexity. Over recent months, various news outlets, including Wired and Forbes, have accused the company of scraping content without permission and circumventing paywalls. Just last week, The New York Times, which is concurrently suing OpenAI, issued a cease-and-desist letter to Perplexity, demanding an end to its unauthorised content use.
In response to mounting pressure, Perplexity has begun compensating some publishers, including Time and Fortune, for their content.
