PERSON: Sean Parker
Employer
Entrepreneur
Position
Co-founder of Plaxo, Napster, Airtime, and Causes; Founding President of Facebook
Biography
Sean Parker (born December 3, 1979) is an American entrepreneur who cofounded the file-sharing computer service Napster and served as the first president of the social networking website Facebook. He also cofounded Plaxo, Causes, and Airtime. As of March 2015, Parker’s net worth was estimated to be US$2.7 billion.
Parker was born in Herndon, Virginia, to Diane Parker, a TV advertising broker, and Bruce Parker, a U.S. government oceanographer. When Parker was seven, his father taught him how to program on an Atari 800. Parker’s father, who put his family over his entrepreneurial dreams, told Parker “if you are going to take risks, take them early before you have a family.” As a teenager, 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 unplugged and confiscated his computer keyboard. Because his IP address was exposed, F.B.I. agents tracked down the 16-year-old. Since Parker was under 18, he was sentenced to community service.
Parker has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for many causes including cancer research, anti-malaria groups and the “charity: water” campaign. He has spoken out in favor of higher taxes, particularly for the “wealthy and super wealthy,” and in favor of higher capital gains taxes. He has made substantial donations to both sides of U.S. party politics, initially favoring Democrats as well as progressive causes such as campaign finance reform and gun control. Subsequently, Parker has supported middle-of-the-road Republican candidates and super PACs, favoring “economically moderate” conservatives and candidates with a demonstrated interest in compromise and deal-making. In an interview from early 2014 he is quoted as favoring “elected officials who have shown themselves willing to work across the aisle” and, in Washington, 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) Parker donated $100,000 to the California Proposition 19 campaign to legalise marijuana in that state.
Parker is the founder of Causes, a philanthropic service that uses social media to connect charities with their supporters and potential donors and then communicates that connection to the user’s network of friends. By 2010, 90 million people had joined Causes, donating a total of $27 million. Originally one of the earliest Facebook applications, Causes is now at Causes.com and raises more than $20,000 a day for various charitable causes.
Parker was portrayed by Justin Timberlake in the 2010 film The Social Network. The movie is a fictionalized account of Facebook’s founding and early days. Timberlake was praised for his performance portraying Parker as a cocky opportunist.
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 took issue with the movie version of Eduardo Saverin’s exit from Facebook (with whom Parker reportedly remains friends), as it ironically paralleled his own exit from Plaxo. Parker called the character a “morally reprehensible human being,” although he noted that “it’s hard to complain about being played by a sex symbol.”
In 2011 Parker was a guest on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, featured on the cover of the Forbes 400 issue, and was profiled in Vanity Fair.
In 2011, Parker became engaged to Alexandra Lenas, a singer-songwriter. In January 2013, the couple had a daughter. In September 2014, it was announced that Parker’s wife is pregnant with their second child. In December, 2014, Alexandra gave birth to their second child, a son, named Zephyr Emerson.
— Wikipedia
Parker was born in Herndon, Virginia, to Diane Parker, a TV advertising broker, and Bruce Parker, a U.S. government oceanographer. When Parker was seven, his father taught him how to program on an Atari 800. Parker’s father, who put his family over his entrepreneurial dreams, told Parker “if you are going to take risks, take them early before you have a family.” As a teenager, 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 unplugged and confiscated his computer keyboard. Because his IP address was exposed, F.B.I. agents tracked down the 16-year-old. Since Parker was under 18, he was sentenced to community service.
Parker has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for many causes including cancer research, anti-malaria groups and the “charity: water” campaign. He has spoken out in favor of higher taxes, particularly for the “wealthy and super wealthy,” and in favor of higher capital gains taxes. He has made substantial donations to both sides of U.S. party politics, initially favoring Democrats as well as progressive causes such as campaign finance reform and gun control. Subsequently, Parker has supported middle-of-the-road Republican candidates and super PACs, favoring “economically moderate” conservatives and candidates with a demonstrated interest in compromise and deal-making. In an interview from early 2014 he is quoted as favoring “elected officials who have shown themselves willing to work across the aisle” and, in Washington, 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) Parker donated $100,000 to the California Proposition 19 campaign to legalise marijuana in that state.
Parker is the founder of Causes, a philanthropic service that uses social media to connect charities with their supporters and potential donors and then communicates that connection to the user’s network of friends. By 2010, 90 million people had joined Causes, donating a total of $27 million. Originally one of the earliest Facebook applications, Causes is now at Causes.com and raises more than $20,000 a day for various charitable causes.
Parker was portrayed by Justin Timberlake in the 2010 film The Social Network. The movie is a fictionalized account of Facebook’s founding and early days. Timberlake was praised for his performance portraying Parker as a cocky opportunist.
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 took issue with the movie version of Eduardo Saverin’s exit from Facebook (with whom Parker reportedly remains friends), as it ironically paralleled his own exit from Plaxo. Parker called the character a “morally reprehensible human being,” although he noted that “it’s hard to complain about being played by a sex symbol.”
In 2011 Parker was a guest on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, featured on the cover of the Forbes 400 issue, and was profiled in Vanity Fair.
In 2011, Parker became engaged to Alexandra Lenas, a singer-songwriter. In January 2013, the couple had a daughter. In September 2014, it was announced that Parker’s wife is pregnant with their second child. In December, 2014, Alexandra gave birth to their second child, a son, named Zephyr Emerson.
— Wikipedia
ClipsBank
Full
Compact
NewsBase
Full
Compact
RadioBank
Full
Compact
PodBank
Full
Compact
TranscriptBank
Full
Compact
No data found
