Plotting Perplexity Against Bloomberg Terminal Backfires for CEO Aravind Srinivas

Perplexity, the AI-powered search engine known for positioning itself as a Google Search alternative, has recently ventured into the financial data space—aiming to build a “Bloomberg Terminal for the masses.”

CEO Aravind Srinivas introduced several finance-specific tools, including a stock screener, company profiles, earnings call transcripts, real-time dashboards, and SEC filing analysis, all at a modest $20/month price point compared to Bloomberg Terminal’s $30,000 annual fee.

"Perplexity charts with code generation and execution have the potential to be the friendly UI and affordable Bloomberg terminal for the masses, which everyone has wanted for a long time! Perplexity Pro is $20/mo, while Bloomberg Terminal is $2500/mo. So, more than 100x cheaper," Perplexity AI CEO Aravind Srinivas said.

However, this ambition has come under scrutiny. A growing number of users, have flagged critical data inaccuracies.

In one case, Perplexity misreported ₹1,355 crore in related party transactions for Sterlite Technologies, when official filings confirmed the actual value was only ₹34.8 crore. It also listed defunct entities and incorrect timelines. Another case involving Deepak Fertilisers revealed overstatements of more than ₹127 crore due to misclassification of financial assets.

Srinivas has since walked back his earlier comparisons to Bloomberg Terminal, admitting that the platform currently lacks essential features and precision required for high-stakes financial decision-making.

“It was ‘Unnecessary’ to position Perplexity as a Bloomberg Terminal alternative," he said.

Despite these challenges, Srinivas remains optimistic, seeing demand and criticism as validation of market interest. But for Perplexity to compete in the financial intelligence space, it must deliver on trust and reliability—where even small errors can have big consequences.