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Man became richest person in the world for two minutes with £72 quadrillion

Home> News> US News

Published 16:54 10 Mar 2024 GMT

Man became richest person in the world for two minutes with £72 quadrillion

That's 15 zeros in case you were wondering

Bec Oakes

Bec Oakes

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What would you do if you were the richest person on Earth?

While the possibilities are merely a pipe dream for the average Joe, for one man, it became his reality... well, for a few minutes at least.

In July 2013, Chris Reynolds, from Delaware Country, Pennsylvania, opened up his PayPal account to find a whopping $92 quadrillion (£72 quadrillion).

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That's 15 zeros, in case you were wondering.

For some unknown reason, the 56-year-old - who sells auto parts on eBay in his spare time - had had an eye-watering $92,233,720,368,547,800 deposited into his account

This officially made him the richest person in the world and the only person on planet Earth who could say they were a quadrillionaire.

Jeff Bezos' $200 billion (£157 billion) seems like spare change in comparison.

An accidental PayPal credit made Chris Reynolds the richest man on Earth.
NBC

Reynolds told the Philadelphia Daily News, which originally broke the story, that the huge sum made him feel 'like a million bucks'.

And he was understandably baffled. Before then, the most cash he'd ever had in his account was 'a little over $1,000' when he'd sold some tires on eBay.

"It’s a curious thing," he told CNN at the time. "I don’t know, maybe someone was having fun."

But Reynolds' fortune lasted for just a brief moment before PayPal realised they'd made a serious error.

Upon realising their mistake, they fixed the issue and apologised to Reynolds for the bizarre mishap.

When he logged back into his account a short while later, his balance once again read $0.

In a statement, PayPal said: "This is obviously an error and we appreciate that Mr. Reynolds understood this was the case."

As for what he'd have done if he'd kept the cash, his answer was pretty wholesome.

Sadly, his fortune didn't last long with PayPal quickly rectifying their mistake.
PayPal/Chris Reynolds

He said he'd have used it to ‘pay the national debt down,' before adding: “Then I would buy the Phillies, if I could get a great price."

After the whole thing was resolved, PayPal offered to donate an undisclosed amount of money to a charity of Reynolds’ choice.

"We think it's inspiring that he decided to use this occurrence to donate to a cause he believes in," the firm said in a follow-up statement.

"And we hope to honour this spirit by donating to a cause of his choice – we've reached out to him to make this offer and to let him know we are grateful that he's a customer!"

Bet it wasn't £72 quadrillion though...

Featured Image Credit: NBC/PayPal/Chris Reynolds

Topics: News, US News, Money

Bec Oakes
Bec Oakes

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