OpenAI Acquires Dharmesh Shah's $15.5M Domain Chat.com: What's Behind The Move?

ChatGPT-parent OpenAI, under the leadership of Sam Altman, has taken over the domain chat.com, which was previously under the ownership of HubSpot‘s founder and CTO, Dharmesh Shah.

What Happened: On Wednesday, Altman posted a cryptic post on X, formerly Twitter, using the words, “chat.com,” only. The URL now redirects to ChatGPT.

https://t.co/n494J9IuEN

— Sam Altman (@sama) November 6, 2024

Following Altman’s post, Shah also took to X and confirmed the purchase, indicating that he might have received OpenAI shares in exchange for the domain.

See Also: Google Delivers New AI Features To Maps, Google Earth, Waze Apps

BREAKING NEWS: Secret acquirer of $15+ million domain chat .com revealed and it's exactly who you'd think.

For those of you that have been following me for a while, you may recall that I announced earlier this year that I had acquired the domain chat .com for an "8 figure sum"… https://t.co/nv1IyddP5z

— dharmesh (@dharmesh) November 6, 2024

Shah had initially bought the domain for $15.5 million in early 2023 but sold it a few months later for an undisclosed amount, which he confirmed was higher than the purchase price.

Shah’s initial purchase of chat.com was driven by his belief in the potential of Chat-based UX, facilitated by Generative AI.

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Why It Matters: OpenAI’s acquisition of chat.com follows its recent transition from a nonprofit to a for-profit model, a move that sparked a financial and governance tug-of-war with Microsoft Corporation MSFT.

The ChatGPT parent has been on a financial upswing, with its valuation soaring to $157 billion in its latest funding round. Previously, it was reported that the AI startup intends to more than double the price of its flagship product, ChatGPT, over the next five years.

Last month, OpenAI rolled out ChatGPT Search, a feature that allows the AI to crawl the web for up-to-date news, sports scores, stock quotes, and more.

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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of Benzinga Neuro and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.