

Season 2, Episode 6: Spotify’s Direct Listing
Napster's Rise and Fall
- Napster, founded in 1999, became incredibly popular amongst college students with broadband internet.
- However, lawsuits from record labels led to its shutdown in 2001.
Parker's Entry into Facebook
- Sean Parker discovered Facebook through his roommate's girlfriend and joined as president.
- Parker, along with Peter Thiel, secured an early investment, paving the way for Facebook's success.
Parker's Influence
- Sean Parker's early involvement in Facebook was crucial, despite his young age.
- His experience and connections helped guide the company through its initial growth phase.
Acquired wraps up a big few weeks of coverage with not an IPO or an M&A or a fundraising round, but what’s still the largest tech exit in recent memory: Spotify’s $30B direct public listing. We dive into what it all means and how we got here: from Napster to iTunes to Facebook (and even some Justin Timberlake thrown in for good measure). Acquired FM is on the scene and spinning all the hits from this new wave music industry titan!
Note: We incorrectly described Spotify CEO Daniel Ek’s ownership stake in Spotify as 25%+; that is actually his voting control. His economic ownership is 9.3%, and cofounder Martin Lorentzon’s is 12.4%. We apologize for the error!
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