A YouTuber has claimed to have become the world's richest person, surpassing the wealth of tech billionaire Elon Musk. But his stint at the top of the money table was short-lived, for 7 minutes, to be precise. Max Fosh, who exploited a market capitalisation loophole, also realised that he needed to dissolve his company immediately as he was being accused of fraud. He has shared a video of how he made this happen and also why he had to shut his company down. On paper, he claimed, he was the world's richest person for 7 minutes.
The video showed how he had set up a company. "In the UK, it's quite easy to set up a company. There's something called the company's house, and you essentially fill a form," Mr Fosh said, explaining the procedure. But he needed a name for the company, which should end with "Ltd". So, he mockingly named the venture 'Unlimited Money Ltd'.
Now, he had to decide what would be the company for - manufacturing macaroni, noodles, couscous and similar farinaceous products. "I don't know what farinaceous means, but that's what the company does," he said.
Next up were shares. He decides on 10 billion. "If I created and registered a company with 10 billion shares, and then sold one of those shares for 50 pounds, that would legally value my company at 500 billion pounds, thus making me the richest man in the world, absolutely decimating my nearest rival Elon Musk," Mr Fosh said in the video.
However, finding investors was not easy. The YouTuber set up his shop, with two chairs and a table, on a London street.
"Despite my energetic pitch, the no's kept on coming," he says.
However, after initial setbacks, he found his first investor - a woman who bought one share for 50 pounds.
He asks her, "Why would you like to invest in this company?" She replies, "On a whim, I feel like it's meant to be, and I'll get something from it eventually."
Soon, trouble followed. The video showed Mr Fosh receiving a letter, presumably from the authorities. It read, "Given the range of information provided to us, the market cap of Unlimited Money Ltd has been assessed as 500 billion pounds. Due to lack of revenue activity, there is a high likelihood that you are being accused of fraudulent activity. It is the reason we highly recommend Unlimited Money Limited is dissolved as a matter of urgency."
Mr Fosh did exactly that. But for 7 minutes, the YouTuber claimed to have been the world's richest man.
Watch the video here:
At the time of writing, the video had been viewed over 5.80 lakh times. It had also racked up many comments.
One user asked, "So when can we expect the release of "Unlimited Money (TM) Pasta"?
Another user felt bad for the woman who invested 50 pounds. "You should at least take her out on a shareholders dinner," wrote the user.
A third user felt the woman could have asked for 51 pounds to dissolve. That way, she "could have made a 2 per cent profit on her investment".
There was also one user who suggested a wordplay on the name of the company. "Personally, I would've gone with 'Money Un' so the full name would be 'Money Un, Limited,'" wrote the user.
This entire episode also led to a discussion thread - Becoming the World's Richest Man For 7 Minutes - on Reddit. At the time of writing, 87 per cent users had upvoted for it.
So, what do you think of the entire incident? Tell us in the comments section below.
