Are Barry Sternlicht and Bobby Murphy business partners? Or did you land here because both names keep showing up in the same search results?Here’s the short answer. Barry Sternlicht founded Starwood Capital Group, a global real estate investment firm that now manages roughly $130 billion. Bobby Murphy co-founded Snap Inc., the company behind Snapchat, and still works as its chief technology officer.
They don’t share a company, and I found no public record of a joint deal or fund. This guide covers who each man is, what their companies do, how the money flows, and who really holds the power. All figures come from company filings, official bios, and 2026 reporting.
Barry Sternlicht and Bobby Murphy at a Glance
Let’s start with a side by side view.
It clears up the basics fast.
| Detail | Barry Sternlicht | Bobby Murphy |
| Full name | Barry Stuart Sternlicht | Robert Cornelius Murphy |
| Born | November 27, 1960, New York City | July 19, 1988, Berkeley, California |
| Known for | Starwood Capital Group, W Hotels | Co-founding Snapchat |
| Current role | Chairman and CEO, Starwood Capital Group | Co-founder, CTO, and board director, Snap Inc. |
| Education | Brown University (BA), Harvard Business School (MBA) | Stanford University (BS, mathematical and computational science) |
| Industry | Real estate, hospitality, private credit | Social media, augmented reality |
| Scale | About $130 billion in assets under management | 493 million daily active users (Q2 2026) |
The big difference is simple.
One man invests in buildings and debt, and the other builds software.
Are Barry Sternlicht and Bobby Murphy Connected?
No, not in any business sense.
They lead separate companies in separate industries, and public filings don’t list them as partners, co-investors, or co-directors.
So why do people search for them together?
Most likely it’s because both are billionaire founders who show up on wealth lists and “who owns what” searches.
They do share a few things:
- Elite schooling. Sternlicht went to Brown and Harvard, and Murphy went to Stanford.
- Founder status. Sternlicht launched his firm at 31, and Murphy co-founded Snapchat while still a student.
- Strong control. Sternlicht runs a private firm, and Murphy holds major voting power at a public one.
I also looked at Sternlicht’s family office, JAWS, which makes venture investments and has backed SPACs.
I didn’t find a public link between JAWS and Snap.
Barry Sternlicht: From Property Investing to Hotel Brands
Sternlicht was born in New York City and grew up in Stamford, Connecticut.
He earned his undergraduate degree at Brown and an MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School.
In 1991, he and Bob Faith started Starwood Capital Group.
Their first big move was buying apartment buildings the government had taken over through the Resolution Trust Corporation.
Then the deals got bigger.
Here’s the short timeline:
- 1993: He folded his apartment portfolio into Sam Zell’s Equity Residential for a stake in that company.
- 1994: His firm bought Westin Hotels & Resorts for $561 million, partnering with Goldman Sachs.
- 1995: He took over Hotel Investors Trust, a nearly bankrupt REIT, and built Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide.
- 1997: The company bought Sheraton in a $13.3 billion deal, beating a bid from Hilton.
- 2008: He launched SH Group, a hotel management company behind Baccarat Hotels & Resorts and 1 Hotels.
His brand ideas shaped the hospitality industry.
He created W Hotels and the Westin Heavenly Bed, and he grew St. Regis into a global name.
Sternlicht moved to Florida in 2016, and Starwood Capital now operates out of Miami Beach.
He also sits on the board of The Estée Lauder Companies.
His firm hasn’t slowed down in 2026.
In July, Starwood announced a record final close of $10.2 billion for its flagship opportunity fund, lifting assets under management to about $130 billion, according to Commercial Observer.
Understanding the Different Starwood Companies
The word “Starwood” confuses a lot of readers.
That’s because several separate companies share the name.
Here’s how they break down:
- Starwood Capital Group: The private investment firm Sternlicht formed in 1991. It invests in real estate, infrastructure, energy, and credit.
- Starwood Property Trust (NYSE: STWD): A publicly traded mortgage REIT and the largest commercial mortgage REIT in the U.S. Jonathan Pollack became its chairman and Starwood Capital’s president in 2025.
- Starwood Real Estate Income Trust: A non-traded REIT of about $22.4 billion. It temporarily suspended most redemptions in 2026 after rising withdrawal requests.
- Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide: The hotel company Sternlicht founded in 1995 and led until 2005. Marriott bought it in 2016.
- SH Group: His hotel management company, which runs Baccarat Hotels & Resorts and 1 Hotels.
- Starwood Energy: The firm’s energy infrastructure arm.
If you remember one thing, make it this.
The hotel company and the investment firm are not the same business.
Bobby Murphy: The Technology Co-Founder Behind Snap
Bobby Murphy grew up in Berkeley, California.
His mother emigrated from the Philippines, and both parents worked for the state of California.
He studied mathematical and computational science at Stanford and graduated in 2010.
There he joined the Kappa Sigma fraternity and met Evan Spiegel.
Their first startup, Future Freshman, didn’t take off.
In 2011, Murphy, Spiegel, and Reggie Brown built a disappearing photo app called Picaboo, which became Snapchat.
Murphy handled the engineering side.
Reports say he wrote much of the early code, and as CTO he oversees engineering and product development.
His work helped shape features that other apps later copied:
- Disappearing messages
- Stories
- Lenses and augmented reality tools
- Spectacles and the newer Specs AR glasses, which Snap showed in 2026 at a reported $2,195
Murphy keeps a far lower public profile than Spiegel.
Time named him one of the 100 most influential people in 2014, and Forbes called him the world’s second-youngest billionaire in 2015.
He also serves on Snap’s board of directors.
The company’s 2026 filings list him among the elected directors.
How Their Businesses Make Money
The two companies earn money in completely different ways.
Here’s a quick comparison.
| Starwood Capital Group | Snap Inc. | |
| Core product | Capital, loans, and property investments | Snapchat app, ads, subscriptions, AR hardware |
| Main income | Management fees, performance fees, interest, property income | Advertising revenue and subscriptions |
| Customers | Institutional and high net worth investors | Advertisers and 493 million daily users |
| Key risk | Real estate values, interest rates | Ad demand, user growth in North America |
How Starwood earns.
Like other alternative asset managers, it raises money from investors and charges fees to manage it.
Its lending arm, Starwood Property Trust, earns interest on commercial real estate loans.
The firm also invests in data centers, and it led the take-private of ESR Group in Asia Pacific.
In the past year it deployed $12 billion, including $6 billion in commercial real estate lending, according to Commercial Observer.
How Snap earns.
In Q2 2026, Snap reported revenue of $1.6 billion, up 19% from a year earlier.
Advertising brought in $1.28 billion, up 9%.
The fast-growing piece is “other revenue.”
It jumped 85% to $316 million, driven by Snapchat+, Lens+, and expanded Memories storage.
Here are the other numbers worth knowing:
- 493 million daily active users and 971 million monthly users
- A net loss of $164 million, down from $263 million a year earlier
- Adjusted EBITDA of about $250 million
- North American daily users down 7% to 92 million
- Q3 2026 revenue guidance of $1.70 billion to $1.74 billion
Personal Wealth, Company Assets, and Voting Control
Let’s talk money, but with a warning.
Net worth numbers online vary wildly, so treat any single figure with caution.
Forbes estimates have placed Sternlicht at roughly $3.8 billion in 2024 and $4.6 billion in 2023.
His wealth rests mostly on his stake in Starwood Capital and related vehicles.
Murphy’s wealth is tied to Snap’s stock price.
Several estimates put him near $10 billion at the 2021 peak, and the 2026 Hurun Global Rich List ranked him 2,816th with about 11 billion yuan, roughly $1.5 billion.
Don’t confuse personal wealth with company assets.
Starwood’s $130 billion is money it manages for investors, not money Sternlicht owns.
Voting control is where Murphy stands out.
Snap has three classes of stock:
- Class A: No votes. This is what the public buys.
- Class B: One vote per share.
- Class C: Ten votes per share.
As of June 26, 2026, Snap had about 1.43 billion Class A shares, 22.5 million Class B shares, and 231.6 million Class C shares.
Spiegel and Murphy can exercise over 99% of the voting power.
That means Spiegel, or Spiegel and Murphy together, can decide any vote.
The two also signed a proxy agreement, and Michael Lynton is their named alternate proxy.
Sternlicht’s situation differs.
He leads a private firm, so there’s no public share structure to read.
What Changed in 2026: Latest Updates
If you’ve read older profiles, a few details may be out of date.
Here’s what’s new:
- Starwood closed a record $10.2 billion fund in July 2026.
- Jonathan Pollack now serves as Starwood Capital’s president.
- Snap’s Q2 revenue growth hit 19%, its strongest pace in a while.
- Snap announced a restructuring expected to cut annualized costs by more than $500 million in the second half of 2026.
- Snap’s annual meeting on July 30, 2026 re-elected its board by written consent, including Murphy.
Conclusion
Barry Sternlicht and Bobby Murphy have built very different empires. Sternlicht turned property deals into a $130 billion investment platform, and Murphy helped turn a college app into a company with nearly half a billion daily users.They aren’t partners, but their stories share a theme.
Both started young, built something big, and kept real influence over what they created.Did this clear up the Starwood confusion for you? Drop a comment with any question I missed, and share this guide with someone who’s mixing up the two names.
FAQs
What is Barry Sternlicht best known for?
He’s best known for founding Starwood Capital Group and building Starwood Hotels & Resorts, including W Hotels.
Is Bobby Murphy the CEO of Snapchat?
No, Evan Spiegel is Snap’s CEO.
Murphy is the co-founder and chief technology officer.
Are Bobby Murphy and Robert Murphy the same person?
Yes, Bobby is short for Robert.
Snap’s SEC filings list him as Robert Murphy.
Did Marriott buy Starwood Capital Group?
No, Marriott bought Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide in 2016 for about $13 billion.
Starwood Capital Group stayed independent.
Where did Sternlicht and Murphy go to college?
Sternlicht earned his BA at Brown and his MBA at Harvard Business School.
Murphy earned his BS at Stanford University in 2010.
Mubeen is a passionate writer who shares simple and practical English grammar, vocabulary, and writing tips at ScoopVisly.
