Brad Garlinghouse
Born 1971 · Age 54
American businessman; CEO of Ripple Labs. Former executive at Yahoo!, AOL and CEO of Hightail (YouSendIt). Advocate for crypto and blockchain; central figure in Ripple's regulatory battles with the SEC.
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Life & Career Timeline
Early exposure to computing (TRS-80)
As a child his father brought home a TRS-80 computer, sparking an early interest in computing/programming.
Graduated BA in Economics, University of Kansas
Earned a Bachelor of Arts in economics from the University of Kansas.
Worked at @Home Network
Early-career role at @Home Network (high-speed internet cable provider); exact dates not specified.
Earned MBA, Harvard Business School
Completed an MBA at Harvard Business School (commonly cited year: 1997).
General Partner at @Ventures
Served as a GP at @Ventures, a venture firm investing in early-stage tech companies (approximate date).
Joined Yahoo! as Senior Vice President
Joined Yahoo! as SVP overseeing Homepage, Flickr, Yahoo! Mail and Yahoo! Messenger (start of tenure reported 2003).
Authored 'Peanut Butter Manifesto' internal memo
Wrote an influential internal memo at Yahoo! calling for focus on core business rather than spreading resources too thin; widely reported (WSJ).
Ended SVP role at Yahoo!
Left Yahoo! after serving as Senior Vice President for communications/community/front doors (tenure commonly cited as 2003–2008).
Senior Advisor at Silver Lake Partners
Served as a Senior Advisor at private equity firm Silver Lake Partners after leaving Yahoo! (timing reported after Yahoo).
President of Consumer Applications at AOL
Joined AOL as President of Consumer Applications and Commerce, overseeing consumer-facing products (reported tenure 2009–2011).
Ended AOL role
Concluded role as President of Consumer Applications at AOL (approx. 2011).
Became CEO of YouSendIt / Hightail
Joined YouSendIt (later rebranded Hightail) as CEO and led product and enterprise strategy (sources place his leadership around 2012–2014).
Joined Animoto board
Appointed to the board of video startup Animoto; TechCrunch article noted Animoto had ~4M users at the time.
Left Hightail (YouSendIt) after board disagreement
Departed Hightail in September 2014 following a disagreement with the board about company direction.
Joined Ripple as COO
Joined Ripple Labs in April 2015 as Chief Operating Officer, reporting to then-CEO and co-founder Chris Larsen.
Promoted to CEO of Ripple Labs
Promoted from COO to Chief Executive Officer of Ripple (reported December 2016; other sources note start of 2017).
Public claims about SWIFT messaging error rates
Garlinghouse publicly claimed SWIFT messaging error rates were at least 6% (statements occurred across 2018–2019).
LSE Business Review research debunks SWIFT claim
London School of Economics Business Review published research showing Garlinghouse's 6% claim was a misreading of SWIFT data.
Ripple raises $200M Series C
Ripple announced a $200 million Series C funding round led by Tetragon, SBI Ventures and Route 66 Ventures (Dec 2019).
Admitted Ripple would lose money without XRP sales
Garlinghouse acknowledged Ripple Labs would be losing money if it did not generate revenue via sales of the XRP cryptocurrency.
Financial Times reports Wikipedia edits controversy
Financial Times wrote about repeated editing of Garlinghouse's Wikipedia page to remove unflattering details (Aug 24, 2020).
SEC files complaint against Ripple and executives
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission issued a complaint alleging Ripple, Brad Garlinghouse and Chris Larsen committed securities law violations related to XRP sales (Dec 23, 2020).
Public criticism of SEC and Gary Gensler
While the SEC case was pending Garlinghouse publicly criticized the SEC's lack of clarity and referred to SEC chairman Gary Gensler as an autocrat; tweeted about jurisdictional ambiguity.
Judge rules XRP token offering 'not a security'
Judge Analisa Torres (S.D.N.Y.) held that the company's crypto token offering was 'not a security', enabling relisting of XRP on exchanges (July 2023 ruling on key points).
SEC drops claims against Garlinghouse and Larsen
The SEC dropped all claims against the two Ripple executives (reported Oct/Nov 2023 across multiple outlets).
Featured: 'Lifetime of Achievement' — FinTech Magazine
FinTech Magazine published a feature titled 'Lifetime of Achievement: Brad Garlinghouse' highlighting his impact on fintech and Ripple's growth (Jan 5, 2024).
Net worth estimate reported ~USD 9 billion (reported later)
Some outlets (e.g., Medium summary citing earlier reporting) estimated Garlinghouse's net worth at about $9B as of April 2024 (estimate, volatile due to crypto exposure).
Public comment: 'War on Crypto' helped Trump (political/regulatory stance)
Commented that federal regulatory actions against crypto became a wedge issue in the 2024 presidential election and believed such actions helped Trump's re-election (reported Dec 2024).
Frequent public speaking & media presence
Regular speaker at industry events (e.g., scheduled at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia fintech conference), media interviews, and active public advocacy for regulatory clarity in crypto.
Claim: $50M grant to National Cryptocurrency Association announced
Kanga Exchange article reported Garlinghouse announced a $50M grant to support the newly established National Cryptocurrency Association (NCA); source-level claim with low verification.
Claim: XRP included in US strategic reserve (reported by source)
Kanga Exchange article states that in March 2025 President Donald Trump announced inclusion of XRP in a new U.S. strategic reserve — reported by that source; not corroborated widely here.
Profile: Coinpaper article reports ownership stake and net worth
Coinpaper (Apr 15, 2025) reported Garlinghouse holds a ~6.3% ownership stake in Ripple and cited an Investopedia-based net worth estimate of about $10 billion. Figures are estimates tied to crypto valuations.
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