The man who owned Google for a minute

What would you do if you owned the world's most powerful website? Photo / Screengrab

A man who briefly bought and owned the Google.com web domain has been rewarded by the search giant.

Sanmay Ved was scrolling through domain names when he realised that Google.com was available to purchase.

He used a credit card to pay the $12 fee to grab google.com and got emails confirming he was the owner. He then started getting messages intended for Google's own web administration team.

Sanmay Ved was scrolling through domain names when he realised that Google.com was available to purchase. Photo / LinkedIn

This was followed by a cancellation message sent by the website buying service which said he could not take over Google.com because someone else had already registered it and his $12 payment was refunded.

Now it has emerged that Mr Ved was offered a reward from Google's security team for revealing the weakness in the domain buying system.

Although he refused to disclose the amount Google gave him, he revealed he decided to give the cash to an Indian educational foundation and in response, Google doubled the reward.

Here's his post on Facebook:

"Google Security has now contacted me, and has offered me a $x reward in a very Googley way. I wrote back and told them it was never about money, and asked that the money be donated to charity to the Art of Living India Foundation. They have replied and have stated that they understand and respect the fact that this was not about getting a reward. Despite that, given what they found, and how this was handled, they are "excited" to offer me a reward.

"Per my request, they will now donate the reward amount (they have doubled the amount as it is now going to charity) to the Art of Living India foundation. I have chosen that the donation be made towards the Art of Living's education program which runs 404 free schools across 18 states of India, providing free education to more than 39,200 children in the slum, tribal and rural belts where child labor and poverty are widespread. The schools nurture the complete child, including body, mind and spirit.

"In the interest of protecting Google, I do not wish to discuss the particulars of their final finding, and the reward amount."