Have you ever imagined owning Google? This may be a dream of many, that god only knows how it will be fulfilled. But, what if we tell you that there was a young man who became the owner of Google.com, shocking, right?

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Today, we bring you the incredible story of Sanmay Ved, an Indian man who, for a few minutes, actually owned the Google.com domain. Curious to know how this rare incident unfolded? Read on!

When an Indian techie bought the Google.com domain

In 2015, Sanmay, a former Google employee, bought the Google domain when he was casually browsing in the wee hours. To his surprise, he discovered that Google.com was listed as available for purchase. Realizing it was the real domain and not a glitch, he didn’t waste a second.
 
Ved, originally from Gujarat, India, quickly bought the domain for a cheap price of $12 (Rs 815). After the purchase, which Ved initially thought would be cancelled, he even gained access to Google’s webmaster tools. But his ownership was short-lived, lasting only a few minutes.

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Detailing the incident, Ved wrote on LinkedIn, "At 1:20 a.m. Eastern Time, he was exploring the platform when he entered the domain into the search bar and was surprised to find it listed as available. Contrary to usual indications, the option to add the domain to his cart was visible, which is typically not seen unless a domain is genuinely available for sale." 

He wrote, ''I was hoping I would get an error at some time saying the transaction did not go through, but I was able to complete the purchase, and my credit card was actually charged!''

The error was found out soon, with the tech giant promptly reacting to the purchase and eventually cancelling it, restoring ownership of the domain.  

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Rs 4 Lakh for minutes!

Soon after noticing the huge tech glitch, the transaction was cancelled. 
However, the tech giant rewarded Sanmay for reporting the error with an amount of $6,006.13 (approx. Rs 4 lakh back then). 

Donation for unprivileged kids

Ved used the money he earned from his minute of ownership in a good deed. He decided to donate the entire amount to a charity. And, after learning that the techie is donating the whole amount, Google simply doubled the amount. 

"You may have read about Sanmay Ved, a researcher who was able to buy Google.com for one minute on Google Domains. Our initial financial reward to Sanmay - $6,006.13 - spelled-out Google, numerically (squint a little and you'll see it!). We then doubled this amount when Sanmay donated his reward to charity," Google said in a blog post, as per TOI. 

Ved donated the money to the Art of Living India Foundation, a non-profit organization that provides free education to underprivileged children across India.