In 2015, Google mistakenly put its domain up for sale. When this former employee realized this, he bought it for just $12. Google had no choice but to give him what he wanted. His answer? He didn't ask for $100,000. Not even $100 million. This is what he asked for instead:

At 1:20 AM on September 29, 2015, one of the most visited domains in the world became available. Google.com , the digital gateway of one of the largest technology companies. A domain that receives billions of visits per month. But something was very wrong...

The domain appeared for sale on Google Domains. Not by millions. Not even by thousands. Only $12. Many would have thought it was a mistake. But one man knew it was real...

His name was Sanmay Ved. A former Google employee who worked at the company as an account strategist between 2007 and 2012. That night, while browsing Google Domains, he saw something that shocked him:

I could buy Google.com . So he did what anyone would do: he clicked "add to cart." You entered your card details expecting an error. But then something extraordinary happened...

The purchase is complete. Your card was charged $12. At that time, Ved owned the most valuable domain in the world. And suddenly, he started receiving inside information confirming it was real...

Ved had access to Google Webmaster tools. I could see internal data for sites on Google Sites. He had control over one of the most valuable assets in technology. But instead of taking advantage of it...