Did OpenAI just spend over $10 million on a URL?

On Wednesday, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman posted a simple URL on X: chat.com. It will automatically be forwarded to ChatGPT.

Previously, the domain was owned by Dharmesh Shah, the founder and CTO of HubSpot. In early 2023, Shah bought chat.com for $15.5 million. However, just a few months later, he announced that he had sold the domain, but would not reveal details of the sale or the buyer. In particular, he confirmed that he had sold the domain for more than he originally paid for it.

“The reason I bought chat.com is simple: I think chat-based UX (#ChatUX) is the next big thing in the software industry. Communicating with computers/software through a natural language interface is much more intuitive. This is made possible by generative AI,” Shah wrote in a LinkedIn post announcing the purchase, which chat.com briefly redirected to before reselling it.

After publishing this article, Shah confirmed in a post on

The removal of “GPT” from the chat.com domain is in line with OpenAI’s recent rebranding efforts.

In September, the company announced a new series of reasoning models that begin with “o1.” Former Chief Research Officer Bob McGrew said at the time The edge He hoped the O1 series would represent “the first step towards newer, more sensible names” to better communicate the company's work.

Hoarding of “vanity domains” is a story as old as the Internet itself. Just a few months ago, AI startup Friend spent $1.8 million on the domain freund.com after 2, had raised $5 million in funding. After OpenAI just raised $6.6 billion, losing more than $10 million – in cash or stock – is just a drop in the bucket.

Update, November 6, 2024: Added Shah's confirmation of domain sale.