Bob Lee, the founder of the popular mobile payment service CashApp, has been identified as the victim of a fatal stabbing in downtown San Francisco. City police responded to reports of a stabbing at approximately 2:35 a.m. on Tuesday, according to the San Francisco Police Department. The 43-year-old was rushed to the hospital, where he succumbed to injuries from the stabbing. “Bob was a force of nature. Helped to birth Android and CashApp into our world,” Joshua Goldbard, the CEO of MobileCoin, told ABC affiliate KGO of San Francisco. “Moby was his dream: a privacy-protecting wallet for the 21st Century. I will miss him every day.” Many others, including Twitter chief Elon Musk, have expressed their sadness upon hearing of Lee’s death. While there have been no arrests made, the fatal incident is being investigated by the San Francisco homicide detail.
NBC NEWS: Cash App founder Bob Lee reportedly killed in San Francisco stabbing, sources say
By Chantal Da Silva & Daniel Arkin; April 5, 2023
A man who was fatally stabbed early Tuesday near downtown San Francisco was tech executive Bob Lee, the founder of Cash App and former chief technology officer of Square, sources told NBC Bay Area.
The San Francisco Police Department said officers responded to a report of a stabbing at around 2:35 a.m. Tuesday. They found a 43-year-old man with apparent stab wounds.
The man was taken to a hospital with life-threatening injuries and later died, police said.
Authorities did not name the man, but sources identified Lee as the victim to NBC Bay Area. He had been serving as the chief product officer of the cryptocurrency company MobileCoin.
In a statement Wednesday, the chief executive of MobileCoin said that Lee “passed away yesterday” and praised his business acumen. He did not specify Lee’s cause of death.
“Bob was a dynamo, a force of nature. Bob was the genuine article,” Joshua Goldbard said. “He was made for the world that is being born right now, he was a child of dreams, and whatever he imagined, no matter how crazy, he made real.”
No arrests appeared to have been made as of early Wednesday.
Police said Tuesday that the incident was being investigated by the department’s homicide detail.
The fatal stabbing could intensify scrutiny on public safety issues in San Francisco, where residents and business owners have grown increasingly concerned about violent crimes and thefts. Mayor London Breed has pledged to crack down on crime.
Tributes poured in on social media for Lee, with former MMA fighter Jake Shields remembering the tech executive as a “loyal friend.”
In an earlier tweet, Shields had said he had “just found out my good friend was killed last night” while walking in what he characterized as a “‘good’ part of the city.”
Responding to Shields’ tweet, Twitter chief Elon Musk said he was “very sorry” to learn of Lee’s death.
Lee’s LinkedIn profile says he was an investor in Musk’s SpaceX venture as well as other tech firms such as the social audio app Clubhouse.
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