OpenAI Eyes $15.5 Million Chat.com – Will the Record-Breaking Deal Happen?

OpenAI suggests that it may purchase Chat.com, a domain that sold for a record-breaking $15.5 million in 2023.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman confirmed the deal in a short message on X, where he wrote only “Chat.com.” The Internet has been using the domain since its registration in September 1996.

HubSpot co-founder Dharmesh Shah purchased it last year for $15.5 million, making it one of the most expensive domain deals ever.

 As of November 6, 2024, Chat.com now leads users to ChatGPT, making OpenAI’s main chatbot service easier to reach. The exact amount that OpenAI paid for the domain is still unknown, but Shah suggests in a LinkedIn post that the buyer may have also gotten OpenAI shares, even though the company hasn’t gone public yet.

It doesn’t look like OpenAI is changing the name of ChatGPT, despite what some people thought. Instead, the company bought Chat.com as part of its plan to get a stronger foothold in the competitive AI market.

OpenAI Restructures with $6.6 Billion Funding

This purchase comes after OpenAI bought AI.com for $11 million in 2023 and then sold it to Elon Musk four months later.

OpenAI has been actively changing its structure and capital base over the past few months. In October 2024, it raised $6.6 billion in funding, which brought its valuation to about $157 billion.

This money helps it make the change from a nonprofit to a for-profit business, which will have an effect on its long-term goals and governance.