Sean Parker
Sean Parker | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 1979 (age 44–45) |
| Education | Oakton High School, Chantilly High School |
| Occupation(s) | Internet technology businessman and entrepreneur |
| Known for | Co-founder of Plaxo and Causes Co-founder or early employee of Napster Early involvement with Facebook |
Sean Parker (born 1979[2]) is an American Internet technology businessman and entrepreneur. He co-founded Plaxo and Causes,[3] and was a part of Facebook.[4] He was also a co-founder or early employee of Napster.
Early life and education
His father began teaching him programming when he was 7 years old. At 16, he was sentenced to community service for hacking.[4]
Parker attended Oakton High School in Fairfax County, Virginia for two years, before transferring to Chantilly High School in 1996 for his junior and senior years. He graduated in 1998.[5]
Ventures
Napster
Sources are inconsistent as to whether he was a co-founder or early employee of Napster,[3][4][6][7] a free file-sharing service for music that drew the ire of recording labels, the Recording Industry Association of America, and Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich.[2] Lawsuits by various industry associations eventually shut down the service.[8][9][10]
Plaxo
In November 2002, Parker subsequently launched Plaxo, an online address book and social networking service that integrated with Microsoft Outlook.[11] He left Plaxo following unspecified disputes with two shareholders, Sequoia Capital and Ram Shriram.[2]
In 2004 Parker began informally advising the creators of Facebook and became its first president, receiving 7% of Facebook's stock when the company incorporated later that year.[12][13] He was forced to leave Facebook in 2005 after being arrested on suspicion of cocaine possession.[4] While on a kite boarding trip to North Carolina, Parker had signed the rental agreement on a beach-front vacation house where drugs were subsequently discovered by police who had come to the house with a search warrant following three nights of parties at the house. Prosecutors did not charge him due to lack of evidence. Facebook's biggest investor, Jim Breyer of Accel Partners, pushed for the ouster.[14]
Spotify
In 2006 Parker joined the Founders Fund, a venture capital fund founded by Facebook investor Peter Thiel and based in San Francisco, as a managing partner.[2][3]
In 2010 Parker sat on the Board of Directors for Spotify where the Founders Fund made a small investment bringing Spotify to the US in July 14, 2011.[15] [16] Parker later invested US$15 million in Spotify.[17][18] Parker has said that Spotify is "the answer to piracy."[19]
Other events
In June 2010 Parker was a participant at the Bilderberg conference in Sitges, Spain.[20]
In popular culture
Parker's time with Facebook is depicted in the 2010 film The Social Network, directed by David Fincher.[4] He is portrayed by Justin Timberlake. Parker described the movie as "a complete work of fiction" and said that he wished his life "was that cool".[21]
In 2010 Parker pledged $100,000 to the campaign to legalize marijuana in California,[22] an effort spearheaded by Richard Lee, who was the guiding force behind California's Proposition 19. He was profiled in Vanity Fair in October 2010.[23]
References
- ^ "Sean Parker". Forbes. Retrieved September 23, 2011.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|dater=ignored (help) - ^ a b c d Marshall, Matt (December 12, 2006). "Founders Fund hires Sean Parker as partner, to launch second fund". Venture Beat. Retrieved May 18, 2009.
- ^ a b c Vascellaro, Jessica E. (April 16, 2009). "Firm Lets Others Choose Start-Ups". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved May 18, 2009.
- ^ a b c d e Kirkpatrick, David (October 2010). "With a Little Help From His Friends". Vanity Fair. Retrieved July 1, 2011.
- ^ "Genius from Class '96". Retrieved February 20, 2011.
- ^ "Sean Parker". Founders Fund. Retrieved July 3, 2011.
- ^ Ante, Spencer (August 14, 2000). "Inside Napster". Business Week. Retrieved April 10, 2011.
- ^ "Napster shut down". BBC News. July 27, 2000. Retrieved May 18, 2009.
- ^ "Napster must stay shut down". BBC News. March 26, 2002. Retrieved May 18, 2009.
- ^ Joseph Menn, (April 15th, 2003) "The Rise and Fall of Shawn Fanning’s Napster"[1]
- ^ Jardin, Xeni (November 12, 2002). "Napster Co-Founder's New Venture". Wired. Retrieved May 18, 2009.
- ^ Rosen, Ellen (May 26, 2005). "Student's Start-Up Draws Attention and $13 million". The New York Times. Retrieved May 18, 2009.
- ^ David Kirkpatrick, Oct, 2010)"With a Little Help From His Friends"
- ^ Facebook's First President, Sean Parker, Was Fired Over A Cocaine Arrest. Sfgate.com (May 14, 2010). Retrieved on January 28, 2011.
- ^ Financial Times. February 28, 2010
- ^ LA Times, Technology. July 14, 2011
- ^ Pollack, Neal (December 27, 2010). "Spotify Is the Coolest Music Service You Can't Use". Wired. Retrieved August 18, 2011.
- ^ Jerräng, Marcus (August 13, 2010). "Spotify valued at $300 million". MacWorld. Retrieved August 18, 2011.
- ^ Tsukayama, Hayley (July 14, 2011). "Spotify: Sean Parker says online music is finally social". Wired. Retrieved September 23, 2011.
- ^ "Bilderberg 2010 list of participants". BilderbergMeetings.org. Retrieved August 25, 2011.
- ^ Sean Parker: The Social Network is a complete work of fiction. Thenextweb.com (January 23, 2011). Retrieved on January 28, 2011.
- ^ MacAskill, Ewen (October 10, 2010). "Facebook co-founder gives $100,000 to push to legalise cannabis in California". The Guardian. UK. Retrieved October 11, 2010.
- ^ Kirkpatrick, David. "With a Little Help From His Friends" in Vanity Fair, October 2010.
External links
