Sean Parker (born December 3, 1979) is an American entrepreneur and philanthropist, most notable for co-founding the
file-sharing
File sharing is the practice of distributing or providing access to digital media, such as computer programs, multimedia (audio, images and video), documents or electronic books. Common methods of storage, transmission and dispersion include ...
computer service
Napster
Napster was a peer-to-peer file sharing application. It originally launched on June 1, 1999, with an emphasis on digital audio file distribution. Audio songs shared on the service were typically encoded in the MP3 format. It was founded by Shawn ...
, and serving as the first president of the
social networking website
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
. He also co-founded
Plaxo
Plaxo was an online address book that launched in 2002. It was a subsidiary of cable television company Comcast from 2008 to 2017. At one point it offered a social networking service.
History
The company was founded by Sean Parker and two Stanfo ...
,
Causes,
Airtime.com, and
Brigade
A brigade is a major tactical military formation that typically comprises three to six battalions plus supporting elements. It is roughly equivalent to an enlarged or reinforced regiment. Two or more brigades may constitute a division.
Br ...
, an online platform for civic engagement.
[Bertoni, Steven]
Sean Parker: Agent of Disruption
. ''Forbes''. September 21, 2011.[Kirkpatrick, David]
With a Little Help From His Friends
. ''Vanity Fair''. October 2010.[Adegoke, Yinka]
Napster founders reunite with social video service
. ''Reuters''. June 5, 2012. He is the founder and chairman of the Parker Foundation, which focuses on life sciences, global public health, and civic engagement. On the ''
Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...
'' 2022 list of the world's billionaires, he was ranked No. 1,096 with a net worth of US$2.8 billion.
Early life
Parker was born in
Herndon, Virginia, to Diane Parker, a TV advertising broker, and Bruce Parker, a U.S. government oceanographer and chief scientist at
NOAA
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (abbreviated as NOAA ) is an United States scientific and regulatory agency within the United States Department of Commerce that forecasts weather, monitors oceanic and atmospheric conditio ...
.
[Schuster, Dana]
The Adventures of NYC's Billionaire Playboy
''New York Post''. When Parker was seven, his father taught him how to program on an
Atari 800
The Atari 8-bit family is a series of 8-bit home computers introduced by Atari, Inc. in 1979 as the Atari 400 and Atari 800. The series was successively upgraded to Atari 1200XL , Atari 600XL, Atari 800XL, Atari 65XE, Atari 130XE, Atari 800XE ...
.
Parker's father, who put his family before his entrepreneurial dreams, told Parker, "if you are going to take risks, take them early before you have a family."
In his teens, Parker's hobbies were
hacking and programming.
One night, while hacking into the network of a
''Fortune'' 500 company, Parker was unable to log out after his father confiscated his computer keyboard.
Because his
IP address
An Internet Protocol address (IP address) is a numerical label such as that is connected to a computer network that uses the Internet Protocol for communication.. Updated by . An IP address serves two main functions: network interface ident ...
was exposed,
FBI
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...
agents tracked down the 16-year-old.
Since Parker was under 18, he was sentenced to community service.
Education
Parker attended
Oakton High School
Oakton High School is a public high school in unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia, in proximity to the town of Vienna, in the United States. It is part of Fairfax County Public Schools.
Oakton operates on a block schedule five days a week, ...
in
Fairfax County, Virginia
Fairfax County, officially the County of Fairfax, is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is part of Northern Virginia and borders both the city of Alexandria and Arlington County and forms part of the suburban ring of Washington, D.C. ...
for two years before transferring to
Chantilly High School
Chantilly High School is a public high school in the Chantilly CDP in unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. It is part of the Fairfax County Public Schools system.
History
Chantilly was originally built in 1972 with open ...
in 1996 for his junior and senior years.
While there, Parker wrote a letter to the school administration and persuaded them to count the time he spent coding in the computer lab as a foreign language class.
Consequently, towards the end of Parker's senior year at Chantilly, he was mostly writing code and starting companies.
He graduated in 1998. While still in high school, he interned for
Mark Pincus
Mark Jonathan Pincus (born February 13, 1966) is an American Internet entrepreneur known as the founder of Zynga, a mobile social gaming company. Pincus also founded the startups Freeloader, Inc., Tribe Networks, and Support.com. Pincus served as ...
(the
CEO of
Zynga
Zynga Inc. () is an American developer running social video game services. It was founded in April 2007, with headquarters in San Mateo, California. The company primarily focuses on mobile and social networking platforms. Zynga states its missio ...
) at Pincus's Washington, DC startup FreeLoader. He won the Virginia state computer science fair for developing a
web crawler
A Web crawler, sometimes called a spider or spiderbot and often shortened to crawler, is an Internet bot that systematically browses the World Wide Web and that is typically operated by search engines for the purpose of Web indexing (''web spid ...
, and was recruited by the
CIA
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...
.
By his senior year of high school, Parker was earning more than $80,000 a year through various projects, enough to convince his parents to allow him to skip college and pursue a career as an entrepreneur.
In his childhood, Parker was an avid reader, which was the beginning of his lifelong
autodidacticism.
Several media profiles refer to Parker as a genius. He considers his time at
Napster
Napster was a peer-to-peer file sharing application. It originally launched on June 1, 1999, with an emphasis on digital audio file distribution. Audio songs shared on the service were typically encoded in the MP3 format. It was founded by Shawn ...
to be his college education, calling it "Napster University", since he became well-versed in
intellectual property
Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...
law, corporate finance, and entrepreneurship.
Ventures
''Napster''
When Parker was 15, he met 14-year-old
Shawn Fanning
Shawn Fanning (born November 22, 1980) is an American computer programmer, entrepreneur, and angel investor. He developed Napster, one of the first popular peer-to-peer ("P2P") file sharing platforms, in 1999. The popularity of Napster was widespr ...
and 15-year-old
Hugo Sáez Contreras over the Internet, where the three bonded over topics such as
programming,
theoretical physics
Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain and predict natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental physics, which uses experim ...
and hacking.
A few years later, Parker, Sáez and Fanning, a student at
Northeastern University, cofounded
Napster
Napster was a peer-to-peer file sharing application. It originally launched on June 1, 1999, with an emphasis on digital audio file distribution. Audio songs shared on the service were typically encoded in the MP3 format. It was founded by Shawn ...
, a free
file-sharing
File sharing is the practice of distributing or providing access to digital media, such as computer programs, multimedia (audio, images and video), documents or electronic books. Common methods of storage, transmission and dispersion include ...
service for music.
Parker raised the initial $50,000, and they launched Napster in June 1999.
[Rosoff, Matt]
Sean Parker: Yes, My New Startup Is Called Airtime
. ''Business Insider''. October 17, 2011. Within a year, the service had tens of millions of users.
Napster was opposed by recording labels, the
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...
, and the heavy metal band
Metallica
Metallica is an American heavy metal band. The band was formed in 1981 in Los Angeles by vocalist/guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...
,
among others.
Lawsuits
-
A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil acti ...
by various industry associations eventually shut down the service.
Napster has been called the fastest-growing business of all time, is credited with revolutionizing the music industry, and is considered by some to be a precursor to
iTunes
iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...
.
''Plaxo''
In November 2002, Parker launched
Plaxo
Plaxo was an online address book that launched in 2002. It was a subsidiary of cable television company Comcast from 2008 to 2017. At one point it offered a social networking service.
History
The company was founded by Sean Parker and two Stanfo ...
, an online address book and
social networking service that integrated with
Microsoft Outlook
Microsoft Outlook is a personal information manager software system from Microsoft, available as a part of the Microsoft Office and Microsoft 365 software suites. Though primarily an email client, Outlook also includes such functions as Calen ...
.
Plaxo was an early social networking tool, which later influenced the growth of companies
LinkedIn
LinkedIn () is an American business and employment-oriented online service that operates via websites and mobile apps. Launched on May 5, 2003, the platform is primarily used for professional networking and career development, and allows job se ...
,
Zynga
Zynga Inc. () is an American developer running social video game services. It was founded in April 2007, with headquarters in San Mateo, California. The company primarily focuses on mobile and social networking platforms. Zynga states its missio ...
, and
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
.
[Bertoni, Steven]
Sean Parker: Agent of Disruption
. ''Forbes''. September 21, 2011. "It sounds boring compared to Napster and Facebook, but Plaxo was an early social networking tool and a pioneer of the types of viral tricks that helped grow LinkedIn, Zynga, and Facebook. "Plaxo is like the indie band that the public doesn't know but was really influential with other musicians," Parker says." Plaxo was one of the first products to build
virality into its launch, and that earned it 20 million users. Two years after founding Plaxo, Parker was ousted by the company's financiers,
Sequoia Capital
Sequoia Capital is an American venture capital firm. The firm is headquartered in Menlo Park, California, and specializes in seed stage, early stage, and growth stage investments in private companies across technology sectors. , Sequoia's total a ...
and
Ram Shriram
Kavitark Ram Shriram (born 1956/57) is an Indian-American billionaire businessman and philanthropist. He is a founding board member and one of the first investors in Google. He was earlier employed by Amazon, working for Jeff Bezos. Shriram cam ...
, in an acrimonious exit that reportedly involved the investors hiring private investigators to follow him.
Facebook
In 2004, Parker saw a site called "
The Facebook" on the computer of his roommate's girlfriend, who was a student at
Stanford
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...
.
Parker had experience in the social networking industry as an early advisor to
Friendster
Friendster was a social network game based in Mountain View, California, founded by Jonathan Abrams and launched in March 2003.Eric Eldon, August 4, 2008.Friendster raises $20 million, nabs a Googler to be CEO VentureBeat. Retrieved December 4, 2 ...
and its founder,
Jonathan Abrams
Jonathan Abrams is a Canadian engineer, entrepreneur, and investor. He is best known as the founder of Friendster where he worked from 2002 to 2005. He then founded Socializr, where he worked from 2005 to 2010, and Nuzzel, where he stayed from 20 ...
, for which he was given a small amount of stock in 2003.
Parker met with
Mark Zuckerberg
Mark Elliot Zuckerberg (; born ) is an American business magnate, internet entrepreneur, and philanthropist. He is known for co-founding the social media website Facebook and its parent company Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook, Inc.), o ...
and
Eduardo Saverin
Eduardo Luiz Saverin (; ; born March 19, 1982) is a Brazilian billionaire entrepreneur and angel investor based in Singapore. Saverin is one of the co-founders of Facebook. In 2012, he owned 53 million Facebook shares (approximately 2% of all ou ...
, and a few months later joined the five-month-old company as its president.
According to
Peter Thiel
Peter Andreas Thiel (; born 11 October 1967) is a German-American billionaire entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and political activist. A co-founder of PayPal, Palantir Technologies, and Founders Fund, he was the first outside investor in Fac ...
, Parker was the first to see potential in the company to be "really big", and that "if Mark ever had any second thoughts, Sean was the one who cut that off".
As president, Parker brought on Thiel as Facebook's first investor.
In the initial round of funding, he negotiated for Zuckerberg to retain three of Facebook's five board seats, which gave Zuckerberg control of the company and allowed Facebook the freedom to remain a private company.
Additionally, Parker is said to have championed Facebook's clean
user interface
In the industrial design field of human–computer interaction, a user interface (UI) is the space where interactions between humans and machines occur. The goal of this interaction is to allow effective operation and control of the machine f ...
and developed its photo-sharing function.
[Sean Parker: Managing Partner, Founders Fund]
. ''Web 2.0 Summit''. Zuckerberg notes that "Sean was pivotal in helping Facebook transform from a college project into a real company."
During a party in 2005, police entered and searched a vacation home Parker was renting and found cocaine.
Parker was arrested on suspicion of drug possession but was not charged.
This event caused Facebook investors to pressure Parker into resigning as president. However, after stepping down, Parker continued to remain involved with Facebook's growth, and met regularly with Zuckerberg. The event was later dramatized in the movie ''
The Social Network
''The Social Network'' is a 2010 American biographical drama film directed by David Fincher and written by Aaron Sorkin, based on the 2009 book ''The Accidental Billionaires'' by Ben Mezrich. It portrays the founding of social networking websi ...
''.
[Marikar, Sheila]
Justin Timberlake: From Boy Band Heartthrob to Modern Day Renaissance Man
. ''ABC News''. September 30, 2010.
In 2017, during an interview with
Axios Axios commonly refers to:
* Axios (river), a river that runs through Greece and North Macedonia
* ''Axios'' (website), an American news and information website
Axios may also refer to:
Brands and enterprises
* Axios, a brand of suspension produ ...
, Parker expressed concerns about the role of Facebook in society, saying that it "exploit
a vulnerability in human psychology" as it creates a "social-validation feedback loop". Parker stated that he was "something of a conscientious objector" to using social media.
Founders Fund
In 2006, Parker became a managing partner at
Founders Fund
Founders Fund is a San Francisco-based venture capital firm. Formed in 2005, Founders Fund had more than $11 billion in aggregate capital under management as of 2022. The firm invests across all stages and sectors, including aerospace, artificia ...
, a San Francisco-based venture-capital fund founded by Peter Thiel. Founders Fund is focused on investing in early-stage companies, has $500 million in aggregate capital, and has invested in
Quantcast
Quantcast is an American technology company, founded in 2006, that specializes in AI-driven real-time advertising, audience insights and measurement. It has offices in the United States, Canada, Australia, Singapore, United Kingdom, Ireland, Fran ...
,
Path
A path is a route for physical travel – see Trail.
Path or PATH may also refer to:
Physical paths of different types
* Bicycle path
* Bridle path, used by people on horseback
* Course (navigation), the intended path of a vehicle
* Desire p ...
, and
Knewton
Knewton is an adaptive learning company that has developed a platform to personalize educational content as well as has developed courseware for higher education concentrated in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The ...
. Parker was given
carte blanche
A blank cheque in the literal sense is a cheque that has no monetary value written in, but is already signed. In the figurative sense, it is used to describe a situation in which an agreement has been made that is open-ended or vague, and therefo ...
by Thiel when finding investments. In 2014, Parker stepped down from his role at Founders Fund to focus on other projects. Parker has also hosted The TechFellow Awards, a partnership between
TechCrunch
TechCrunch is an American online newspaper focusing on high tech and startup companies. It was founded in June 2005 by Archimedes Ventures, led by partners Michael Arrington and Keith Teare.
In 2010, AOL acquired the company for approximately ...
and Founders Fund that annually gives 20 entrepreneurs $100,000 each to invest in startups.
Spotify
While working at Founders Fund, Parker had been looking to invest in a company that could further Napster's music-sharing mission legally.
In 2009, a friend showed him
Spotify
Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...
, a Swedish music-streaming service, and Parker sent an email to Spotify's founder
Daniel Ek
Daniel Ek (born 21 February 1983) is a Swedish billionaire entrepreneur and technologist. He is the co-founder and CEO of music streaming service Spotify.
Early life and education
Ek grew up in the Rågsved district of Stockholm, Sweden. He gra ...
. The pair traded emails, and in 2010 Parker invested US$15 million in Spotify.
Parker, who served on Spotify's board until 2017, negotiated with
Warner and
Universal
Universal is the adjective for universe.
Universal may also refer to:
Companies
* NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company
** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of NBCUniversal
** Universal TV, a ...
on Spotify's behalf, and in July 2011, Spotify announced its U.S. launch.
At Facebook's
f8 conference that year, Parker announced a partnership between Facebook and Spotify, which allowed users to share their Spotify playlists on their Facebook profiles.
Brigade Media
In April 2014, Parker announced his backing of a new initiative called
Brigade
A brigade is a major tactical military formation that typically comprises three to six battalions plus supporting elements. It is roughly equivalent to an enlarged or reinforced regiment. Two or more brigades may constitute a division.
Br ...
, an online platform for civic engagement to "combat a lack of political engagement and interest in all levels of government across America." Parker serves as the Executive Chairman of
Brigade
A brigade is a major tactical military formation that typically comprises three to six battalions plus supporting elements. It is roughly equivalent to an enlarged or reinforced regiment. Two or more brigades may constitute a division.
Br ...
. The initial round of funding was $9.3 million from Parker, with additional sums from other investors. In 2014, Brigade acquired Causes, an online platform for social impact and political activism. Causes had in 2013 acquired Votizen, a political advocacy startup. Parker and The Founders Fund were a part of
Votizen
Votizen is a consumer technology company that is developing an online network of voters in the United States. Based in Mountain View, California, the site allows its members, which it calls "Votizens", to learn about issues and elections, and take ...
's $1.5 million funding round in 2010, and Parker served on the board of directors. He has stated, "Politics for me is the most obvious area
o be disrupted by the Web"
Philanthropy
Since 2005, Parker has been an active donor to cancer research, global public health and civic engagement. In 2012, he pledged a $5 million grant to Stand Up to Cancer and the Cancer Research Institute to create the Immunotherapy Dream Team, uniting laboratory and clinical efforts that will lead to the immunological treatment, control and prevention of cancer. In December 2014, Parker pledged $24 million to create the Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy Research at Stanford. In 2015, he made a $4.5 million grant to support the Malaria Elimination Initiative at the University of California San Francisco's Global Health Group, and a $10 million grant to create the Sean N. Parker Autoimmune Research Laboratory at UCSF.
Parker is an active supporter of groups including
Code for America
Code for America is a non-partisan, non-political 501(c)(3) organization founded in 2009 to address the widening gap between the public and private sectors in their effective use of technology and design. According to its website, the organiza ...
, Stand up to Cancer, the Cancer Research Institute, Malaria No More, the Clinton Foundation, ONE, and the "
charity: water" campaign.
[Bowe, Rebecca]
Sean Parker: "I am paying far too little in taxes"
. ''San Francisco Bay Guardian''. October 26, 2011.
In 2007, Parker founded
Causes, originally one of the earliest
Facebook application
The Facebook Platform is the set of services, tools, and products provided by the social networking service Facebook for third-party developers to create their own applications and services that access data in Facebook.
The current Faceboo ...
s, as a philanthropic service that uses
social media
Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...
to connect charities with their supporters and potential donors and then communicates that connection to the user's network of friends. By 2013, 186 million people had joined Causes, donating over $50 million to 60,000 non-profits.
Parker Foundation
In June 2015, Parker announced a $600 million contribution to launch the Parker Foundation, which focuses on three areas - life sciences, global public health, and civic engagement. It takes an interdisciplinary approach to large-scale challenges, combining insight, capital, science and technology, organization building, and public policy.
Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy
Parker donated $250 million to create the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, in April 2016. The funds initially went to over 300 scientists at 40 laboratories, in six institutions.
Starting in 2016, the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy scientists funded a clinical trial to test the next wave of cancer-fighting T-cells engineered using the CRISPR gene-editing technology.
The trial was the first in the United States to test CRISPR-modified cells in humans.
The trial is led by the
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...
and is also conducted at
University of California, San Francisco
The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a public land-grant research university in San Francisco, California. It is part of the University of California system and is dedicated entirely to health science and life science. It cond ...
and the
University of Texas
The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...
MD Anderson Cancer Center.
In November 2017, ''
Science
Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe.
Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...
'' published a study from Parker Institute researchers at
MD Anderson Cancer Center
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (colloquially MD Anderson Cancer Center) is a comprehensive cancer center in Houston, Texas. It is the largest cancer center in the U.S. and one of the original three comprehensive cancer centers ...
showing that
melanoma
Melanoma, also redundantly known as malignant melanoma, is a type of skin cancer that develops from the pigment-producing cells known as melanocytes. Melanomas typically occur in the skin, but may rarely occur in the mouth, intestines, or eye ( ...
patients who have specific types of bacteria and greater microbial diversity in their gut microbiome responded better to an anti-PD-1 checkpoint inhibitor versus those with less diversity.
Based on this work, the Parker Institute is collaborating with MD Anderson and industry partner Seres Therapeutics to launch a microbiome-cancer immunotherapy clinical trial for advanced melanoma patients.
Board memberships
Parker also serves on the boards of these nonprofits:
*
Obama Foundation
The Barack Obama Foundation is a Chicago-based nonprofit organization founded in 2014. It oversees the creation of the Barack Obama Presidential Center, runs the My Brother's Keeper Alliance (a program Barack Obama began while he was president), ...
*
Global Citizen
Global citizenship is the idea that one's identity transcends geography or political borders and that responsibilities or rights are derived from membership in a broader class: "humanity". This does not mean that such a person denounces or waives ...
* Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy
* Parker Foundation
*
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA) is a contemporary art museum with two locations in greater Los Angeles, California. The main branch is located on Grand Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles, near the Walt Disney Concert Hall. MOCA's o ...
Awards
In February 2015, Parker was ranked number five on the ''
Chronicle of Philanthropy
''The Chronicle of Philanthropy'' is a magazine that covers the nonprofit world of philanthropy. Based in Washington, DC, it is aimed at charity leaders, foundation executives, fund raisers, and other people involved in philanthropy. ''The Chroni ...
's'' 2014 Philanthropy 50 list. In August 2018, Parker was nominated as a
''Wired'' "Icon" along with
Alex Marson for his research in DNA programming and genome editing in the fight against cancer. He's also been named one of
''Town and Countrys Top 50 Philanthropists and was named in
''Time'''s Healthcare 50 for his work in connecting cancer research. In 2016, he was given the Pontifical Key Philanthropy Award by Cardinal
Gianfranco Ravasi
Gianfranco Ravasi (born 18 October 1942) is an Italian prelate of the Catholic Church and a biblical scholar. A cardinal since 2010, he was President of the Pontifical Council for Culture from 2007 to 2022. He headed Milan's Ambrosian Librar ...
at the Vatican for his cancer work.
Political donations and activism
Parker has made substantial donations to both sides of U.S. party politics; his allegedly "nonpartisan" approach favors contributions to "elected officials who have shown themselves willing to work across the aisle". He favored
Democrats and progressive causes such as
campaign finance reform and
gun control
Gun control, or firearms regulation, is the set of laws or policies that regulate the manufacture, sale, transfer, possession, modification, or use of firearms by civilians.
Most countries have a restrictive firearm guiding policy, with on ...
; he has spoken out in favor of higher taxes, particularly for the "wealthy and super wealthy", and in favor of higher capital-gains taxes.
Parker has also supported middle-of-the-road
Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
candidates and
super PACs, favoring "economically moderate" conservatives and candidates with a demonstrated interest in compromise and deal-making. In Washington, DC, he has met with Republican lawmakers about ways of encouraging economic investment in struggling areas of the country. He has also supported cannabis law reform and in 2010, following the example of donations by Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz (totaling $70,000) donated $100,000 to the
2010 California Proposition 19 campaign to legalize marijuana in that state
and $400,000 to the Democratic Party backed
2016 California Proposition 63 campaign to require background checks for all ammunition purchases. Parker will donate $250 million to launch a new institute aimed at developing more effective cancer treatments by fostering collaboration among leading researchers in the field. For the
2016 presidential election, Parker created a social ballot guide for voters to help each other pledge to vote.
Parker was also a driving force behind the
Opportunity Zone An Opportunity Zone is a designation and investment program created by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 allowing for certain investments in lower income areas to have tax advantages. The purpose of this program is to put capital to work that would ...
s provision in the
Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017
The Act to provide for reconciliation pursuant to titles II and V of the concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2018, , is a congressional revenue act of the United States originally introduced in Congress as the Tax Cuts and Jobs A ...
, which are designed to incentivize investments in struggling American communities.
[Tankersley, Jim (January 29, 2018).]
Tucked Into the Tax Bill, a Plan to Help Distressed America
". ''The New York Times''. Retrieved December 3, 2018. In 2015, the Economic Innovation Group, which Parker co-founded, published a whitepaper on the idea of opportunity zones, and in 2017, a bill passing them into law was shepherded by a bi-partisan coalition involving Senator
Cory Booker
Cory Anthony Booker (born April 27, 1969) is an American politician and attorney who has served as the junior United States senator from New Jersey since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, Booker is the first African-American U.S. se ...
and Senator
Tim Scott
Timothy Eugene Scott (born September 19, 1965) is an American businessman and politician serving as the junior United States senator from South Carolina since 2013. A member of the Republican Party, Scott was appointed to the U.S. Senate by Go ...
.
In popular culture
Parker was portrayed by
Justin Timberlake
Justin Randall Timberlake (born January 31, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He is one of the world's best-selling music artists, with sales of over 88 million records. Timberlake is the recipient of numerous awards and ac ...
in the 2010 film ''
The Social Network
''The Social Network'' is a 2010 American biographical drama film directed by David Fincher and written by Aaron Sorkin, based on the 2009 book ''The Accidental Billionaires'' by Ben Mezrich. It portrays the founding of social networking websi ...
''.
The movie is an account of Facebook's founding and early days.
Although Parker praised
David Fincher as a director, many have remarked on the differences between Parker and his portrayal by Timberlake.
Former Facebook growth chief
Chamath Palihapitiya noted that Parker is "really the exact opposite of his portrayal in the film".
Parker called the character a "morally reprehensible human being", although he noted, "it's hard to complain about being played by a sex symbol".
Additionally, Parker took issue with the movie's version of
Eduardo Saverin
Eduardo Luiz Saverin (; ; born March 19, 1982) is a Brazilian billionaire entrepreneur and angel investor based in Singapore. Saverin is one of the co-founders of Facebook. In 2012, he owned 53 million Facebook shares (approximately 2% of all ou ...
's exit from Facebook as it paralleled his own exit from Plaxo.
In 2011, Parker was a guest on ''
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
''Late Night with Jimmy Fallon'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by comedian Jimmy Fallon.[ About pag ...](_blank)
'', featured on the cover of the ''
Forbes 400
The ''Forbes'' 400 or 400 Richest Americans is a list published by ''Forbes'' magazine of the wealthiest 400 American citizens who own assets in the U.S., ranked by net worth. The 400 was started by Malcolm Forbes in 1982 and the list is publ ...
'' issue, and was profiled in ''
Vanity Fair''.
In 2020, Parker appeared in ''
The Social Dilemma
''The Social Dilemma'' is a 2020 American docudrama film directed by Jeff Orlowski and written by Orlowski, Davis Coombe, and Vickie Curtis. The documentary examines how social media's design nurtures addiction to maximize profit, and its abil ...
''.
Personal life
In 2011, Parker became engaged to Alexandra Lenas, a singer-songwriter, and they were married in 2013.
They have a daughter and a son.
Big Sur wedding
On June 1, 2013, Parker married Alexandra Lenas in
Big Sur
Big Sur () is a rugged and mountainous section of the Central Coast of California between Carmel and San Simeon, where the Santa Lucia Mountains rise abruptly from the Pacific Ocean. It is frequently praised for its dramatic scenery. Big Sur ha ...
, California, in a wedding at which every guest was given a ''
The Lord of the Rings
''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's boo ...
''–style costume. The wedding purportedly cost $10 million to stage, although Parker describes this estimate as "WAY off base".
The wedding was the subject of an article in ''
The Atlantic
''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science.
It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
'' alleging environmental damage to the redwood forest, to which Parker responded by highlighting his cooperation with the
Save the Redwoods League
Save the Redwoods League is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to protect and restore coast redwood (''Sequoia sempervirens'') and giant sequoia (''Sequoiadendron giganteum'') trees through the preemptive purchase of development rights ...
throughout.
A required permit was not obtained. In addition, the venue from which he hired the space was not permitted to be closed to the public. A
California Coastal Commission spokesperson said "Mr Parker, in essence, leased an ongoing Coastal Act violation when he leased the campground." As part of the settlement with the commission, Parker gave $2.5 million and created a beach-mapping app. Former Coastal Commissioner Assemblyman Mark Stone said, "To be able to put money back into the same community that cares so much about coastal resources is a very positive thing."
References
External links
*
Sean Parker at Encyclopaedia BritannicaSean Parker Profile at Parker Institute
{{DEFAULTSORT:Parker, Sean
1979 births
Living people
People from Herndon, Virginia
Businesspeople from Virginia
American billionaires
American venture capitalists
Facebook employees
Silicon Valley people
American technology company founders
American technology chief executives
20th-century American businesspeople
21st-century American businesspeople
Oakton High School alumni
Chantilly High School alumni
Spotify people