Man became the richest person on the planet after $92 quadrillion was accidentally put in his account

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By Asiya Ali

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A man briefly became the world's wealthiest individual after a whopping $92 quadrillion was accidentally put in his PayPal account.

Most of us can only dream of one day being millionaires, so the thought of how much a quadrillion is - or, indeed, 92 quadrillion - is barely fathomable.

But one man found out what it was like to have that much wealth in his account - albeit only for a short time - thanks to a banking error.

Back in 2013, Chris Reynolds, a then-56-year-old resident of Pennsylvania, was left stunned after he opened his bank account and discovered that he was a whole lot richer.

PayPal unintentionally added a staggering sum of $92,233,720,368,547,800 into his account - which meant that for a few minutes, he was the only person on the planet who could claim to be a quadrillionaire.

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PayPal unintentionally added a staggering sum of $92,233,720,368,547,800 into his account. Credit: SOPA Images / Getty

Reynolds would've surpassed the wealth of Tech mogul Elon Musk, whose current net worth is an estimated $245 billion, and French luxury goods magnate, Bernard Arnault, who comes in number two with an estimated $191 billion.

According to the Daily Mail, Reynolds, who sells auto parts in his spare time, was worried as he thought he owed someone trillions. He shared the bank statement on Facebook to try to find answers, where someone pointed out that the figure was listed under "credit" not "debit."

But, he quickly found out that it was a glitch on PayPal's end when he logged back into his bank account to find the balance had gone down to $0.

The online money-transfer company acknowledged its mistake and promptly withdrew the incorrectly credited funds. However, they donated an undisclosed amount of money to a charitable organization of Reynolds' choosing to compensate for the financial debacle.

"This is obviously an error and we appreciate that Mr. Reynolds understood this was the case," PayPal said in a statement, obtained by the outlet. "We think it's inspiring that he decided to use this occurrence to donate to a cause he believes in.

"And we hope to honor 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!", they added.

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Reynolds logged back into his PayPal account and saw that his balance was $0. Credit: Newscast / Getty

In an interview with the Philadelphia Daily News in 2013, cited by Daily Mail, Reynolds opened up about the mind-blowing moment, stating: "At first I thought that I owned quadrillions. It was quite a big surprise."

Reynolds then revealed that would've spent the eye-watering cash to "pay the national debt down" and then "buy" the Philadelphia Phillies, an American Professional baseball team based in Philadelphia.

He said he would've put forward a "great price," which would've been well within his range as the team has an estimated value of $2.58 billion.

Thankfully, Reynolds found the ordeal humorous, saying it could have happened because "someone was having fun".

Featured image credit: SOPA Images / Getty

Man became the richest person on the planet after $92 quadrillion was accidentally put in his account

vt-author-image

By Asiya Ali

Article saved!Article saved!

A man briefly became the world's wealthiest individual after a whopping $92 quadrillion was accidentally put in his PayPal account.

Most of us can only dream of one day being millionaires, so the thought of how much a quadrillion is - or, indeed, 92 quadrillion - is barely fathomable.

But one man found out what it was like to have that much wealth in his account - albeit only for a short time - thanks to a banking error.

Back in 2013, Chris Reynolds, a then-56-year-old resident of Pennsylvania, was left stunned after he opened his bank account and discovered that he was a whole lot richer.

PayPal unintentionally added a staggering sum of $92,233,720,368,547,800 into his account - which meant that for a few minutes, he was the only person on the planet who could claim to be a quadrillionaire.

wp-image-1263242200 size-full
PayPal unintentionally added a staggering sum of $92,233,720,368,547,800 into his account. Credit: SOPA Images / Getty

Reynolds would've surpassed the wealth of Tech mogul Elon Musk, whose current net worth is an estimated $245 billion, and French luxury goods magnate, Bernard Arnault, who comes in number two with an estimated $191 billion.

According to the Daily Mail, Reynolds, who sells auto parts in his spare time, was worried as he thought he owed someone trillions. He shared the bank statement on Facebook to try to find answers, where someone pointed out that the figure was listed under "credit" not "debit."

But, he quickly found out that it was a glitch on PayPal's end when he logged back into his bank account to find the balance had gone down to $0.

The online money-transfer company acknowledged its mistake and promptly withdrew the incorrectly credited funds. However, they donated an undisclosed amount of money to a charitable organization of Reynolds' choosing to compensate for the financial debacle.

"This is obviously an error and we appreciate that Mr. Reynolds understood this was the case," PayPal said in a statement, obtained by the outlet. "We think it's inspiring that he decided to use this occurrence to donate to a cause he believes in.

"And we hope to honor 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!", they added.

wp-image-1263242203 size-full
Reynolds logged back into his PayPal account and saw that his balance was $0. Credit: Newscast / Getty

In an interview with the Philadelphia Daily News in 2013, cited by Daily Mail, Reynolds opened up about the mind-blowing moment, stating: "At first I thought that I owned quadrillions. It was quite a big surprise."

Reynolds then revealed that would've spent the eye-watering cash to "pay the national debt down" and then "buy" the Philadelphia Phillies, an American Professional baseball team based in Philadelphia.

He said he would've put forward a "great price," which would've been well within his range as the team has an estimated value of $2.58 billion.

Thankfully, Reynolds found the ordeal humorous, saying it could have happened because "someone was having fun".

Featured image credit: SOPA Images / Getty