Google is undoubtedly the largest search engine in the world. It’s country-specific domains are leading in top spots in many countries. The case of Google Argentina is no different. However, the Google search engine was bought by a private individual; that too only for Rs 415. This is how it happened: A person was able to buy the domain of Google Argentina. Before asking about how it happened, you need to realise that the website was not functioning for two hours in Argentina that night.
The legendary deal benefited Nicolas Kurona. He also shared a picture of the acquisition on his twitter profile. As expected, this led the whole twitter community into frenzy. It’s not an everyday event that Google web domain is claimed by an ordinary person. What more, people were doubly surprised when Kurona added that he had purchased the domain Google.com.ar through a simple legal process. So what really might’ve happened here?
Google‘s Argentina domain became dysfunctional on April 21, Wednesday night. It remained like that for almost two hours.
Kurona, in the meantime, was designing a website for a client near Buenos Aires. He knew from some WhatsApp messages that Google was on strike.
“I decided to check it myself. I entered www.google.com.ar into my browser and realized it was not working,” he said.
Kurona then searched the Network Information Center (NIC) domain for the website in Argentina. NIC operates ‘.ar ‘country code domains in Argentina. That’s when Corona received information that Google‘s Argentina domain was available for purchase. The domain name was bought for just 270 pesos, or Rs 415.
Kurona said he was shocked. “I never thought the transaction could be completed. My personal data was found when I entered www.google.com.ar in the search bar to verify its authenticity,” he said.
The incident was confirmed by Google Argentina, who said the domain was acquired by someone else for a short time and was quickly recovered.
Domain rights were immediately removed from Kurona by NIC. It is not yet clear how the young man was able to purchase the domain. Kurona said neither NIC nor Google returned his money, although he became a sensational topic overnight.
