Tech

Former Google Employee Purchase Company’s Domain Name

Neal Earley Contributor
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A former Google employee purchased the “google.com” domain name, worth more than $2 billion, for only $12.

Sanmay Ved, who worked at Google for five-and-a-half years as an account strategist and online media sales display specialist, according to his LinkedIn profile, was only able to hold onto the domain name for a about only one minute before the $364.99 billion company canceled the purchase.

Ved, who recounted the story in a blog post on his LinkedIn profile, said he was just testing out Google’s domain name interface by searching if “google.com” was available. To his surprise, the name was unclaimed, and Ved decided to purchase his former employer’s domain name.

“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 said in an interview with Business Insider. “I thought it was some error, but I could actually complete check out.”

Ved then received two emails from Google confirming his purchase, but only one minute later Google sent a third canceling his purchase.

But for that minute — while he owner the domain name — Ved said he had access to the webmaster controls, breaching Google’s security through a loophole. Though Ved is a good Samaritan, as he reported the incident to Google.

“So for one minute I had access,” Ved said. “At least I can now say I’m the man who owned Google.com for a minute.”