Forbes tags Snapchat's Fil-Am exec as second youngest billionaire under 40

American Bobby Murphy, 26, whose mother is a Filipina, is the second youngest billionaire in the world today, according to Forbes Magazine.

 

In this year's "The World's Youngest Billionaires 2015: 46 Under 40," Forbes noted that the Berkeley, California-based Murphy registered a net worth of $1.5 billion.

 

Murphy is the son of California state employees, "one of whom emigrated from the Philippines," according to Forbes.

 

Together with his Stanford University buddy Evan Spiegel, Murphy founded Snapchat, a temporary photo messaging app.

 

Spiegel is Snaphcat's CEO while Murphy is the chief technology officer.

 

The 24-year-old Spiegel, with a net worth of $1.5 billion, is the youngest on this year's list. 

 

Murphy and Spiegel met at a Kappa Sigma fraternity house at Stanford University in 2010.

 

"The senior in mathematics and computational science with a placid demeanor meshed well with Spiegel's brasher personality," Forbes noted.

 

In 2011, Murphy, Spiegel and a third frat bro Reggie Brown launched an app originally called Picaboo "which got little traction," according to Forbes.

 

"Rebranded as Snapchat, the product, which allows you to send a contact a photo with a caption or writing on it that 'disappears' in 10 seconds or less, first started to take off in late 2011," the magazine said.

 

The mobile app now has a user base "approaching as many as 200 million people," Forbes noted.

 

"Valued by investors at $10 billion, Forbes estimates that Spiegel and Murphy each own at least 15 percent," Forbes added.

 

Reports last month have it that Snapchat had received new funding offers "at an eye-popping valuation of $19 billion."

 

According to Snapchat, Snaps are picture or video messages taken and shared with friends on Snapchat in real time. 

 

"Snaps can be viewed for up to 10 seconds, depending on the amount of time the user chooses. Snapchatters can choose to have their photo or video saved in their phone’s photo gallery or just sent to friends," it noted.

 

"We weren't cool," Murphy told Forbes in 2013 about his and Spiegel's college experience. "So we tried to build things to be cool."

 

Murphy and Spiegel were also featured in the Forbes "30 Under 30 list" in 2014.

 

There are 1,826 members in the magazine's billionaires ranking, where 46 are under the age of 40. – Kathryn Mae P. Tubadeza/VS, GMA News