OpenAI bought Chat.com, adding to its collection of high-profile domain names.
As of this morning, Chat.com now redirects to OpenAI’s AI-powered chatbot, ChatGPT. An OpenAI spokesperson confirmed the acquisition via email.
Chat.com is one of the older domains on the web, having been registered in September 1996. Last year, it was reported that HubSpot co-founder and CTO Dharmesh Shah acquired Chat.com for $15.5 million, making it one of the top two all-time publicly reported domain sales.
Shah announced last March that he’d sold Chat.com to an unnamed buyer. And late today, in a post on X, he confirmed that OpenAI was that buyer — implying that he’d been paid in OpenAI shares.
The domain name doesn’t appear to have changed hands since it sold last year, indicating that OpenAI isn’t hosting ChatGPT on Chat.com — so this probably doesn’t represent a brand change.
OpenAI declined to say how much it paid for Chat.com.
