Background and career
Andrew E. Rubin (born March 13, 1963) is an American computer programmer, entrepreneur, and venture capitalist. Rubin founded Danger Inc. in 1999 and left in 2003; Danger was eventually acquired by Microsoft in 2008. Rubin founded Android Inc. in 2003, which was acquired by Google in 2005; Rubin served as a Google vice president for nine years and led Google's efforts in creating and promoting the Android operating system for mobile phones and other devices during most of his tenure. Rubin left Google in 2014, initially presented as a voluntary departure; but later revealed to be a dismissal due to allegations of sexual harassment by Rubin. Rubin then served as co-founder and CEO of venture capital firm Playground Global from 2015 to 2019. Rubin also helped found Essential Products in 2015, a mobile phone start-up that closed in 2020 without finding a buyer. In 2019, Rubin was inducted into the Wireless Hall of Fame.
Rubin grew up in Chappaqua, New York. He is of Jewish heritage. He is the son of a psychologist who later founded his own direct-marketing firm that created photographs of the latest electronic gadgets to be sent with credit card bills. He attended Horace Greeley High School in Chappaqua, New York from 1977 until 1981 and was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science from Utica College, Utica, New York, in 1986.
Andy Rubin worked at Apple from 1989 to 1992 as a manufacturing engineer. Rubin was nicknamed "Android" by his co-workers at Apple in 1989 due to a love of robots, with the nickname eventually becoming the official name of the Android operating system.
Rubin joined General Magic in 1992. He was a lead engineer in the development of the Motorola Envoy.
Rubin cofounded Danger, Inc. in 1999, and served as its CEO under which he designed and released the Hiptop mobile Internet communicator and cell phone aimed at young adults. More popularly known as T-Mobile Sidekick (due to partnership with carrier T-Mobile US), the device achieved cult popularity. Shortly after the Hiptop's launch, Rubin's CEO role was replaced and he remained solely as president and chief strategy officer. He left the company in early 2004 for his next startup, Android, Inc.
After Android was acquired by Google in 2005, Rubin became the company's senior vice president of mobile and digital content, where he oversaw development of Android, an open-source operating system for smartphones. On March 13, 2013, Larry Page announced in a blog post that Rubin had moved from the Android division to take on new projects at Google, with Sundar Pichai taking over Android. In December 2013, Rubin started management of the robotics division of Google (including companies such as Boston Dynamics, which Google owned at the time). On October 31, 2014, Rubin left Google after nine years at the company to start a venture capital firm for technology startups.
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth (October 2026), in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
