Remember when this average American accidentally became the richest man in the world?
Published on Jul 19, 2023 at 12:08 PM (UTC+4)
by Kate Bain
Last updated on Jul 28, 2023 at 4:50 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Kate Bain
Remember when an average American became the richest man in the world after accidentally being credited with $92 quadrillion?
Father of three Chris Reynolds got a pretty big shock when he opened his account to find the 17-figure amount – $92,233,720,368,547,800 to be exact.
That figure put him well ahead of the world’s richest people, including Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos who have a combined net worth of a paltry $412 billion.
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The dad from Pennsylvania, who buys and sells vintage car parts, said at first, “I thought that I owed quadrillions”.
“My thought was a) it’s a mistake, and b) it’s a big mistake. It was more funny than elating,” he told the NY Daily News.
Reynolds then posted a screenshot of his account to Facebook for a laugh.
He thought it would get a couple of likes.
It got a few more than that, very quickly going viral.
The temporary quadrillionaire said it also prompted a lot of people from his past to come out of the woodwork.
Unfortunately for them, and Reynolds, the mistake was corrected pretty quickly and his PayPal balance dropped from $92 quadrillion down to $0 again.
To apologize for the (astronomical) mistake, PayPal offered to donate money to a charity of his choice.
Unfortunately for Reynolds, we don’t think his back pocket was a recognized charity.
When asked what he would actually do with that kind of money, Reynolds said he would “pay down national debt” and “definitely buy the Phillies because I love the team and it would be within my budget”.
Considering most things (everything under the sun) would have been within his budget, those dreams seem fairly modest.
When news of his temporary richest man in the world status went public, people were quick to jump in with advice.
“Withdraw to bank account, withdraw to bank account!” one guy said.
Another came up with a pretty hilarious hypothetical scenario.
“Sorry sir, we have to take that back because it was an error” … “Actually, I’ve just bought PayPal and I say leave it”.
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Kate Bain is the Page Editor at supercarblondie.com. She is based in Dubai and coordinates coverage of the latest news across automotive, technology, and lifestyle. Kate has a bachelor's degree in business and post graduate in journalism. She is an experienced editor and journalist who has worked for News Corp, Daily Mail Australia, and Sky News. When she's not at work, you'll find her attached at the hip to her dog, Thor.
