College student finds glitch to own Google site, gets $12K

Boston (AP) – A Massachusetts graduate student who pointed out a glitch that allowed him to briefly “own” the world’s most heavily trafficked website has been awarded more than $12,000 from Google. The Boston Globe reports that Babson College MBA candidate Sanmay Ved believed he bought the Internet domain Google.com for $12 when he was using the Google Domains website registration service last fall. The former Google employee documented his improbable path to purchasing the domain name. His order was verified, his credit card was charged and he received email confirmation. A minute later, however, Ved received word that his order was canceled. Google revealed that the company gave Ved $6,006.13 – “Google” spelled numerically – for discovering the bug. Google doubled it after learning Ved had donated his reward to charity.