According to Snap’s S-1 statement filed last week, Murphy earns $250,000 a year — just half of what Spiegel makes.
From the statement: “In October 2016, we entered into an amended and restated offer letter agreement with Robert Murphy, our co-founder and Chief Technology Officer with respect to his continuing employment with us. Mr. Murphy’s annual base salary as of December 31, 2016 was $250,000.”
Although Spiegel’s cash salary will technically be reduced to just $1 when Snap debuts on the New York Stock Exchange in March — upon which both co-founders will reportedly have a net worth of $4 billion each — it’s worth noting the huge difference in pay.
He’s the technical whiz.
Murphy, who originally met Spiegel in 2010 when both belonged to the Stanford fraternity Kappa Sigma, was brought onto Snapchat early on to code the app after another project — an online social network inspired by Google Circles — failed to catch on.
“The notion is to change the notion of what a photograph is and use it as a means of communication and just recognizing that photos and videos are extremely expressive,” Murphy attempted to explain to Stephen Colbert during a rare TV appearance in 2013 with Spiegel. “You have a camera on your smartphone always with you. Why not use that as a way to communicate with friends and family? The disappearing aspect is an effort to bring the service back to normal human communication, which is ephemeral and transient and fluid.”
It was Murphy who led Snap’s expansion on the technical side. As the app evolved to include new features such as Stanford University