PayPal mistakenly credited a Pennsylvania man with more than $92 quadrillion Friday — momentarily making him the world’s richest person.
“It’s a number you don’t see written out very often, even in national finance circles,” Chris Reynolds, 56, told the Daily News. “My thought was a) it’s a mistake and b) it’s a BIG mistake. It was more funny than elating.”
After receiving an email notification, Reynolds of Media, Pa., logged onto his PayPal account to find that the online-money transfer had been annulled, lowering his balance from $92,233,720,368,547,800 to $0.
A friend suggested that he post the original PDF showing the false payday to Facebook. He thought perhaps the image would get a few “likes.”
“The tone of the Facebook post turned into ‘Hey, remember me?'” Reynolds said.
Facebook friends he had not spoken to in years from across the globe came out of the woodwork. Reynolds started receiving messages from old acquaintance who learned he had not actually hit the big time.
But if he had, Reynolds knows just what he would do with the loot.
“I think I would pay down the national debt,” he said. “I would definitely buy the Phillies because I love the team and it would be within my budget. … The rest I’d invest.”
For now, though, Reynolds will just have to keep earning money the old fashioned way: working.
He runs Reynolds Ink, a public-relations firm, with his wife Jennifer Reynolds.
“We’re still getting used to the news of our status as the world’s richest people,” she joked, when contacted by the Daily News.
As PR professionals, the Reynolds try to gain media attention for their clients but are not used to being the center of attention themselves.
“I had no idea there would be a media frenzy,” he said with a laugh. “It was on Facebook and no cats were involved.”
After the mishap, to offset any disappointment, PayPal offered to donate cash to a nonprofit of Reynolds’ choice. He has not announced his decision yet.
mwalsh@nydailynews.com