An ex-Google employee and now-Amazon employee, Sanmay Ved managed to buy the world’s most-visited domain Google.com via Google’s own Domains service for $12. In a stroke of luck, Ved had been searching Google Domains, Google’s website-buying service, when he noticed that Google.com was available for purchase on Sept. 29. He momentarily gained access to its webmaster tools before Google canceled the sale.
However, Ved owned Google.com for one whole minute before the Mountain View company realized it was a mistake and cancelled the transaction.
After acknowledging the mistake, Google and when Ved generously suggested donating his prize money to his charity, Art of Living, that focuses on bringing education to the slums. Google donated over $10,000.
Ved believed that his real reward was just being the person who bought Google.com for a whole minute. “I don’t care about the money, ” Ved told Business Insider. “It was never about the money. I also want to set an example that it’s people who want to find bugs that it’s not always about the money.”
Ved donated his reward to “The Art of Living India,” an Indian foundation that focuses on providing education to poorer areas of the country.
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