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Sophie Downing from Nottingham discovered she had a balance exceeding £63quadrillion – making her 100,000 times richer than Elon Musk
NEED TO KNOW: Brit becomes ‘world’s richest woman’
- A business owner has become the world’s richest person after a coffee shop gift card glitch showed a balance of £63 quadrillion – but she can only spend it on lattes and croissants. Sophie Downing, 29, thought she had a £10 voucher for 200 Degrees Coffee in Nottingham when she went to buy a matcha latte last week.
- But when the till displayed the astronomical figure – that’s 63 with 15 zeros – both she and the confused barista couldn’t believe their eyes. She said: “The guy at the till was really confused. His face was just like ‘what?'” He said it was “fine for you to keep it”, she added.
- The staggering amount makes her 100,000 times wealthier than Elon Musk and 670 times richer than the entire world economy.
- Ms Downing, who runs hair removal service Secret Sugar Club, used the card again days later and the balance remained in the tens of quadrillions. Despite having enough credit to “clear everything off the shelf”, she has decided not to use the card again. She suspects the barcode was scanned incorrectly, turning into the balance by mistake.
- 200 Degrees Coffee has not yet responded to the error, leaving Ms Downing as the world’s richest person – at least on paper.
- READ THE FULL STORY: Brit, 29, now ‘world’s richest’ woman with £63quadrillion – more than Elon Musk
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