Sam Altman may have spent millions of dollars – and OpenAI shares – to buy a single URL

On Wednesday, OpenAI’s CEO ominously tweeted a simple URL, chat.com, which is now the new home of his company’s flagship AI tool, ChatGPT.

The new URL previously belonged to Dharmesh Shah, co-founder of CRM platform HubSpot, who wrote on LinkedIn in 2023 that he paid an “eight-figure amount” for it.

At the time, Shah wrote that it was “the most expensive domain name transaction I’ve ever been involved in” and said he bought the domain name because he believed chat-based software was the next big thing. He also added that he would not use the domain name for his own business and would sell it if a buyer came along.

“Chat.com is absolutely brilliant in terms of simplicity, brevity and complete pinpoint accuracy and meeting the moment,” Shah wrote at the time.

But just a few months later, Shah said he sold the domain without identifying the buyer. He said at the time that he used $250,000 of the proceeds from the sale and donated it to Khan Academy, a nonprofit educational organization.

Following Altman’s tweet, Shah confirmed that OpenAI had purchased the domain name, which he said he bought for $15.5 million. As for the price OpenAI paid for the URL, Shah was intentionally vague.

In a tongue-in-cheek, ChatGPT-style prompt in his post, Shah seemed to suggest that he didn’t profit from the domain sale and likely took some OpenAI shares as payment. In the prompt passage, he explained that he had known Altman for 10 years and didn’t like taking advantage of his friends.

OpenAI did not immediately respond AssetsPlease comment.