A Former Google Employee Bought Google for Just $12

Posted by Staff writer on Oct 02, 2015 07:00 AM EDT

Close

more big

A web developer or even a simple blogger would definitely attest to the fact that getting a really good '.com' name for their site would sometimes be a challenging task. However, a former Google employee named Sanmay Ved managed to score big when he was able to purchase this generation's most recognizable domain name, 'Google.com'

Believe it or not the former Google employee bought Google.com within a minute for just 12, not billion, but simply $12. You read it correctly, a former Google employee just bought 'Google.com' for only $12 dollars. On an interview with businessinsider, Ved shared that; "I used to work at Google so I keep messing around with the product. I type in Google.com and to my surprise it showed it as available."

Ved was just simply shopping for a domain name online and with sheer luck hr was able to buy 'Google.com' without sign of errors. According to him, "I thought it was some error, but I could actually complete check out." After the former Google employee purchased Google's domain, he became more enthusiastic upon learning that he had access to webmaster controls, which means he was able to see internal information. However, Ved's ownership of Google.com did not last that long, for after minute the sale of Google domain was canceled. On his interview with businessinsider, Ved stated that;

"The scary part was I had access to the webmaster controls for a minute. So for one minute I had access. At least I can now say I'm the man who owned Google.com for a minute. I can't shake that feeling that I actually owned Google.com."

The story of a random person being able to purchase powerful domain name, like 'Google.com', is not an isolated case. This weird domain problem was also encountered by Microsoft back in 2013 when they failed to renew 'Hotmail.co.uk' web address. Same thing did happen; a random person was able to purchase the said domain name and which was eventually returned back to Microsoft.

What do you think about the incident involving a former Google employee purchasing Google? If you were Ved, what would you have done with the access given to you? Feel free to share and comment below.