Early Life and Education
Sean Parker was born in Herndon, Virginia, to Diane Parker, a TV advertising broker, and Bruce Parker, a U.S. government oceanographer. His father taught him to program at age seven on an Atari 800. Parker attended Oakton High School before transferring to Chantilly High School, graduating in 1998. During his time at Chantilly High School, he convinced the administration to count his coding time as a foreign language class.
Napster and Early Ventures
Parker co-founded Napster in 1999 with Shawn Fanning, revolutionizing music distribution. Despite its initial success, Napster faced legal challenges and was shut down in 2001. Following Napster, Parker co-founded Plaxo, an online address book and social networking service in 2002.
Facebook and Beyond
In 2004, Parker became the founding president of Facebook, playing a pivotal role in its early success. He helped transform the platform from a college project into a global phenomenon. Parker negotiated for Mark Zuckerberg to retain control of Facebook. Parker was ousted from Plaxo in 2004. He resigned from Facebook's presidency in 2005 after a drug possession incident. He also invested in Spotify in 2010 and served on its board until 2017.
Philanthropy and Recent Activities
Parker is the founder and chairman of the Parker Foundation, established in June 2015 with a $600 million contribution. The foundation focuses on life sciences, global public health, and civic engagement. In 2016, the Parker Foundation announced a $250 million grant to form the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy. As of June 2024, Parker became chairman of the image-generation startup Stability AI.
