The Time Google Lost Google.com for One Minute

It happened in 2015.

Sanmay Ved, a former Google employee, made a late-night discovery. While casually browsing Google Domains, he noticed something strange: Google.com was available for purchase.

He clicked through. To his shock, the checkout process went through.

For one minute, Ved owned the most visited website on the internet.

How was this possible?

A glitch in Google's domain renewal system had allowed their own domain name to briefly lapse. It slipped into the public pool, where anyone with a Google Domains account could buy it.

Ved paid just $12.

For 60 seconds, he had full access to Google's domain settings via the Google Search Console. He received internal webmaster emails and had the power to alter site-level settings.

Google was alerted and quickly reversed the transaction.

But this was no ordinary refund.

Instead, Google's security team reached out. They offered Ved a reward under their Vulnerability Reward Program (VRP). Initially, the offer was $6,006.13 - a numeric nod to the word "Google."

Ved declined the symbolic payout and asked Google to donate the money to charity instead.

Google agreed - and doubled the amount to $12,000.

Months later, Ved revealed that the final donation was actually $600,000, made to The Art of Living India Foundation.

Why such a large number?

Google never publicly confirmed the reasoning. Some believe it was a discretionary PR decision - an effort to quietly reward Ved while avoiding headlines about a major security lapse.

It worked.

The incident barely made waves outside niche tech circles. Most people still don't know the world's top domain was owned by a stranger for a full minute.

Since then, Google has implemented stricter auto-renewal policies. The odds of a repeat are now close to zero.

But the story remains a reminder of how even trillion-dollar companies can leave the front door open.

Literally.

Filed under: General Knowledge