According to TechCrunch, OpenAI has acquired the domain Chat.com, adding it to its portfolio of notable domain names. As of this morning, visitors to Chat.com are redirected to OpenAI's AI-powered chatbot, ChatGPT. An OpenAI spokesperson confirmed the acquisition through email communication.
Chat.com is a longstanding domain, having been registered in September 1996. Last year, it was reported that Dharmesh Shah, co-founder and CTO of HubSpot, purchased Chat.com for $15.5 million, marking it as one of the highest publicly reported domain sales. In March, Shah announced the sale of Chat.com to an undisclosed buyer. Later, he confirmed via a post on X that OpenAI was the purchaser, suggesting that the transaction involved OpenAI shares.
Despite the acquisition, the domain name has not changed hands since its sale last year, indicating that OpenAI is not hosting ChatGPT on Chat.com. This suggests that the acquisition does not signify a rebranding effort by OpenAI. The company has not disclosed the financial details of the purchase.