For just one minute, an MBA student in Massachussets was able to own the largest tech site in the world, Google. Sanmay Ved, a self-proclaimed 'fanboy' bought and owned the site for just US$12.
Google is one of the biggest names in the tech industry, and given the status, has many critics as well as admirers. While the search company has been embroiled in many issues because of system glitches and patent lawsuits, as well as allegations of skewing search ratings to favour its own content, Google certainly did not skew the support of one loyal fan.
Twenty-nine-year old Sanmay Ved is a strong supporter of the tech company. According to a Washington Post report, Ved has worked for the search giant as a display specialist and account strategist for close to six years. When he has spare time, he looks at Google's beta releases and tools to try them out and see how they work.
One night, as he scrolls through the registration service of Google's own beta, he found the listings of domains that could be purchased. "I just wanted to see how the interface looks after you search for a domain," Ved said. Quickly, he added that the first domain which came to mind was obviously Google.com. Ved typed the domain name into the search bar and immediately saw other similarly named domains which have been marked as unavailable. Google.com, however, was shown to be available for purchase.
The domain cannot possibly be available, and Ved thought it may have been a graphical issue. Ved tried to add the domain to his cart. No error had come up, and his credit card had been charged with a sum of $12 for the purchase. The next day, Ved received emails confirming his order. Notifications also began coming in, providing Ved with access to make changes in the domain. The ownership was short-lived, however, and Google sent a message telling Ved that the order has been cancelled. The payment was then refunded.
Ved reported the vulnerability to Google, and the company rewarded him with an undisclosed amount of money. For the avowed fanboy, "it was never about the money". Ved refused to accept the reward, but Google insisted and even doubled the amount once the company learned that Ved intended to donate the sum to an education program in India. Anyhow, the reward is well-deserved. And Google must be grateful that the minute came to its loyal fanboy.
