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The incredible life and career of Sean Parker, who got his start as a teenage hacker before cofounding Napster and becoming a Facebook billionaire

Avery Hartmans   

The incredible life and career of Sean Parker, who got his start as a teenage hacker before cofounding Napster and becoming a Facebook billionaire
Careers1 min read
Sean Parker

Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

Sean Parker.

  • Sean Parker got his start as a teenage hacker before cofounding the file-sharing service Napster in 1999.
  • Parker later joined Facebook in the company's early days, becoming the founding president of the site at 24.
  • These days, the 40-year-old billionaire is funding philanthropic programs in life sciences, global public health, and civic engagement, and is working to solve economic challenges throughout the US.
  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Sean Parker found massive success at an incredibly young age.

At 19, he cofounded Napster, a file-sharing service that would change how the world consumes music.

By 24, he was the founding president of Facebook, a startup that was then tiny but would go on to become the biggest social network in the world.

The 40-year-old, whose net worth is estimated to be about $2.7 billion, hasn't slowed a bit: he donates millions to philanthropic causes and lives an expensive lifestyle.

Here's how Parker got his start, ended up at Facebook, and became a billionaire.

Madeline Stone contributed to an earlier version of this story.

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