UK-based YouTuber Max Fosh claimed he had become the world’s richest person, dethroning tech billionaire Elon Musk, albeit for a period of seven minutes. Fosh’s net worth became nearly twice as much as that of the Tesla founder during that period, he said.

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Fosh, who has over six lakh followers on his YouTube channel, created a video of how he set up his company and had to dissolve it immediately after being accused of fraud by the authorities in the UK. He shared the video and claimed he was the world’s richest person for seven minutes on paper.

In the YouTube video, Fosh, who exploited a market capitalisation loophole, explains that it is easy to set up a company in the UK.

"There's something called the company's house, and you essentially fill a form," he said.

Fosh mockingly named his business venture 'Unlimited Money Ltd'. Next, he had to decide what his company would do such as manufacturing macaroni, noodles, couscous and similar "farinaceous" products. Fosh confessed he did not know the meaning of farinaceous, but said that is what his company did.

His next move was to decide on the shares for his business venture, which he kept at 10 billion. On the YouTube video, Fosh said if his company was registered with 10 billion shares valued at £50 apiece, the market capitalisation of his company would be £500 billion, making him the world’s richest man and decimating his closest rival Elon Musk.

Fosh set up his office with two chairs and a table in London, but was unable to attract investors. Only one woman agreed to buy one share for £50 “on a whim”.

Soon, Fosh received a letter, presumably from authorities based in the UK, informing him that the market cap of Unlimited Money Ltd was assessed to be £500 billion without much revenue activity, raising suspicion of a fraud. “It is the reason we highly recommend Unlimited Money Limited is dissolved as a matter of urgency," the authorities said. Fosh shut shop soon, but claimed he was the world’s richest man for those seven minutes.

The YouTube video garnered a lot of attention and had been viewed 743,290 times by the time this article was written. It also led to a discussion thread titled “Becoming the World’s Richest Man For 7 Minutes” on Reddit.

(Edited by : Thomas Abraham)

First Published:Feb 18, 2022 12:08 PM IST