The Guy That Bought Google For a Few Minutes Got Thanked and Rewarded

A few weeks ago, a US student briefly purchased the domain name ‘Google.com’ for a few minutes due to a bug in Google’s domain registration program. While expecting only to walk away with a great story to tell, it turns out the multi-billion dollar tech giant has thanked and rewarded him for pointing out the security flaw.

Sanmay Ved, an ex-google employee was trawling through Google’s domain buying service sites in the early hours of 29 September when he spotted a ‘for sale’ sign next to Google.com. He bought the name for $12 USD ($16.35 AUD) and briefly controlled the site through his analytics and webmaster tools accounts.

Ved received messages to his registered email directed towards Google’s web administration team. After a couple of minutes, he was informed that Google had cancelled the sale.

Rather than condemn Ved, Google actually thanked him and rewarded him handsomely for pointing out the error. He then donated it all to charity #likeabaws to which Google then doubled the reward.

Ved won’t disclose the amount Google awarded him, only hinting that it’s at least “more than ten thousand.” He told Business Insider, “it was never about the money”.

Google has not made a comment on the story.

16 bucks well spent.