Bobby Murphy
Robert Cornelius Murphy | |
|---|---|
| Born | July 19, 1988 Berkeley, California, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Internet entrepreneur, software engineer |
| Known for | Co-founder and CTO of Snap Inc. |
Robert Cornelius Murphy (born July 19, 1988) is an American Internet entrepreneur and software engineer. He co-established the global technology firm Snap Inc., initially launched as Snapchat Inc., alongside Evan Spiegel and Reggie Brown during their tenure at Stanford University, where he also serves as the company's CTO.
In 2014, Time recognized Murphy as one of the 100 most influential individuals. The following year, Forbes listed him as the world's second-youngest billionaire.
Early life
Murphy was born on July 19, 1988, in Berkeley, California. His heritage includes an Irish-American father and a mother who is a first-generation Filipino-American.
Raised in Berkeley, he attended the School of the Madeleine, a private Roman Catholic elementary school, before moving on to Saint Mary's College High School, a private Catholic secondary school also located in Berkeley.
Education
He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in mathematical and computational science from Stanford University in 2010. During his studies, Murphy was affiliated with the Kappa Sigma fraternity alongside future Snapchat co-founders Evan Spiegel and Reggie Brown.
Career
Following their joint effort on a startup called Future Freshman—a college advisory platform that did not succeed—Spiegel invited Murphy to collaborate again. In 2011, they launched Picaboo, an app for sending disappearing images that was later rebranded as Snapchat. After graduating from Stanford, Murphy took a software engineering position at Revel Systems, which provides iPad-based point-of-sale solutions for restaurants. Initially, he personally financed Snapchat’s server expenses using half of his salary until venture capital funding was obtained.
Within Snapchat, Murphy has overseen engineering and research divisions and played a significant role in creating Snap Labs' 2018 Spectacles camera glasses. At the time of Snapchat's IPO in 2017, Murphy and Spiegel collectively controlled over 45% of the company’s shares and held more than 70% of voting rights.
In February 2017, Murphy and Spiegel committed up to 13 million shares of Class A common stock to establish the Snap Foundation, aimed at supporting nonprofit organizations focused on arts, education, and youth over a period of 15 to 20 years.
Personal life
A native of California, Murphy was ranked by Forbes in 2015 as the 1,250th wealthiest individual worldwide and placed #15 among U.S. entrepreneurs under 40 years old that year. By 2016, he advanced to #374 on the Forbes 400 list. His real estate portfolio includes the purchase of actor Eddie Albert’s former Pacific Palisades estate for $19.5 million in 2018 and acquisition of a property on Manhattan Beach Strand for $14.5 million in 2021.