On September 29, 2015, the unthinkable happened: Google, the tech giant synonymous with the internet itself, briefly lost ownership of its most valuable digital asset—its domain name, Google.com and Sanmay Ved, a former Google employee, purchased the domain for a mere $12 through Google’s own domain registration service.

The incident occurred at 1:20 a.m. Eastern Time, when Ved, while casually exploring the Google Domains platform, noticed that Google.com was inexplicably listed as available for purchase. Out of curiosity, he added it to his cart, expecting an error message to stop him. Instead, the transaction went through, and Ved suddenly found himself in control of the most visited website on the planet.

For a brief moment, Ved had access to Google Webmaster Tools and received ownership notifications, confirming his purchase. However, Google’s systems quickly flagged the error, and the transaction was reversed within minutes. Ownership of the domain was restored to Google, and Ved’s $12 was refunded.

As a gesture of goodwill, Google offered Ved a reward of $6,006.13, a numerical nod to the company’s name in “leet speak.” When Ved chose to donate the amount to the Art of Living India Foundation, a charity supporting underprivileged children, Google doubled the reward to $12,000.

While the incident caused no lasting damage, it highlighted a chilling reality: the fragility of even the most robust digital infrastructures. Had the domain fallen into malicious hands, the consequences could have been catastrophic—not just for Google, but for the billions of users who rely on its services daily. From email to cloud storage, advertising to search, the loss of Google.com could have paralyzed the digital ecosystem.

This episode serves as a stark reminder of the importance of vigilance in domain management and cybersecurity. Even the most powerful companies are not immune to human error, and the stakes couldn’t be higher when it comes to protecting digital lifelines.