When Babson College MBA student Sanmay Ved saw Google.com on a list of domains for sale in September – from Google’s own domain search page – he bought it for $12, “never really expecting the transaction to go through”, CNNMoney reports today.
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In an online security blog posted Thursday, the company revealed that it wanted to give Ved ,006.13.
He shelled out a lowly $12 to own the address, but the purchase was reverted one minute later. But just as quickly, that was followed by an order cancellation email from Google Domains.
That might seem like a super random figure, but take another look You may notice that the number actually spells out Google, numerically.
Google doled out some cash after losing and regaining control of its domain name last fall.
In October past year, former Google employee Sanmay Ved was searching Google Domains when he discovered the domain was available to purchase.
It only lasted for a couple of minutes but the idea that perhaps the most recognised web address in the world even briefly belonged to someone else is pretty much insane. While this is quite a big deal for Mr. Ved, Google chose to save some money by being creative.
Read the story and Ved’s post.
Google’s payout ended up going to the Art of Living India foundation, which runs free schools for children in poverty-stricken areas of India.
Ved’s award was part of Google’s Vulnerability Rewards program, which recompenses people who find loopholes and vulnerabilities within Google.
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Microsoft bumped into a similar issue in 2003 when it lost ownership of the Hotmail.co.uk website, The Register reported at the time.
