In an odd twist of financial news, a recent Pay Pal system error made a man in Pennsylvania one of the wealthiest men on the planet, albeit temporarily. In fact, for a period of approximately 120 seconds, he was the wealthiest man in the world by far—even wealthier than Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, who’s listed by Forbes as the wealthiest man in the world with assets totaling more than $73 billion.
A prominent public relations exec, Chris Reynolds, told the news that he was checking his email over the weekend when he discovered the error. An email from Pay Pal advised him that his new statement was ready. Once he opened the statement, the balance line was a substantially higher sum than he had imagined.
$92,233,720,368,547,800.
That’s $92 quadrillion dollars, in case you are wondering. Approximately 5,500 times the national debt of the United States at the present, which currently sits at about $16.7 trillion.
Upon logging into his account, the error had already been corrected, showing a reverted account balance of $0.
In a humorous mood, Reynolds decided to take a snapshot of the error and share it on Facebook and other social networks.
Pay Pal was made aware of the story after it hit the local news in PA.
They contacted Reynolds offering to donate money to a charity to make amends for the embarrassing discrepancy.
While Pay Pal has yet to offer any clarity as to why or how such a computer error could occur in the world’s largest online payment processing solutions provider, they simply stated that they were looking into the matter.
“This was obviously an error and appreciate that Mr. Reynolds understands this was the case,” explained Pay Pal in a recent statement that was issued to the press.
Had the money been legitimate and his own, Reynolds explained exactly what he would do with it. He’d buy a franchise sports team.
“I’ve always wanted to own the Phillies,” he said.