Is Napster co-founder (and Facebook billionaire) Sean Parker about to make a bid for Warner Music?
He co-founded Napster, an online music sharing service that unarguably contributed to the steep decline of mainstream record labels.
But now digital entrepreneur, Sean Parker, is rumoured to be part of a consortium of investors making a bid for Warner Music.
The irony of such a bid will not be lost on the music industry or Parker himself - Warner was part of the consortium that sued Napster into bankruptcy.
According to All Things Digital Parker isn’t part of the formal bid, but aligned with a group led by investors Ron Burkle and Doug Teitelbaum.
The Warner Music Group hired Goldman Sachs to look at a number of options for the company, including selling itself outright, earlier this year.
Owners are expecting to fetch $2.5billion, according to the All Thing Digital report.
Parker helped found Napster in 1999 when he was just 19. He then moved onto address book startup Plaxo and was Facebook's first president before having to leave in 2005 after being arrested for suspected cocaine possession.
An equity stake in the company has made him very rich indeed. Forbes estimates his net worth at $1.6billion.
Irony: Warner was part of the consortium that sued Napster into bankruptcy
Film: Parker, who was portrayed by Justin Timberlake in The Social Network (pictured left), was Facebook's first president with an equity share in the company. He is now worth a reputed $1.6billion
Most recently he has invested in and been advising the streaming music service, Spotify.
Spotify has a million paying subscribers and seven million active users in Europe. It is not yet in the U.S. but the company has hinted it will be in the 'coming months'.
Current Warner CEO Edgar Bonfman also described the service from Spotify and other streaming services as 'meaningful in 2011'.
Burkle and Teitlebaum are one of at least five bidders trying to buy all or part of Warner however.
The music label expects to make a decision on its sale in the coming weeks.
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