Student who bought Google.com gives reward to Indian education charity

An education and humanitarian charity in India has benefitted from the American student who bought and owned the Google.com web domain for one minute.

Sanmay Ved gained worldwide fame after it was revealed he had managed to purchase the iconic URL for just $12 thanks to a flaw in the corporation’s systems.

The business administration student’s access was revoked within 60 seconds after administrators apparently realised the error. He has since revealed that he was contacted by Google Security, who “offered me a reward in a very Googley way”.


In a blog post, Sanmay said his actions were not motivated by money and he is not interested in making a financial gain from the purchase.

So he asked Google to donate the money to the Art of Living India Foundation, that focuses on taking education to the country’s slums. Sanmay wrote that it “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 labour and poverty are widespread”.

Sanmay, who is taking an MBA at Babson College in Massachusetts, hinted to Business Insider that the reward was “more than $10,000”.

He added: “I don’t care about the money. It was never about the money. I also want to set an example that it’s people who want to find bugs, that it’s not always about the money.”

Asked why he wanted the reward to go to the Art of Living India Foundation, Sanmay said: “I’m kind of a proponent for education.”