Pulse2 Technology and Social Media News » Shawn Fanning

Airtime Raises $25 Million and Acquires Erly

Amit Chowdhry — Wed, 23 May 2012 16:41:04 +0000

Airtime is a video startup company that was founded by Napster founders Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker. Airtime is still in stealth mode, but they have made their first acquisition. Airtime acquired Erly, a company that lets people create “a beautiful webpage for your event.” The event page lets you invite guests, collect photos/videos/stories, and browse updates from your friends’ events. Erly was founded by former Hulu CTO Eric Feng. On top of acquiring their first company, Airtime has announced a new $25 million round of funding led by Kleiner Perkins. Andreessen Horowitz and Google Ventures participated in this round of funding as well. Kleiner Perkins partner Bing Gordon is joining Airtime’s board of directors as part of the new round of funding. Airtime is expected to launch on June 5th.

Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker Working On New Video Chat Company Called Yo

Amit Chowdhry — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 05:58:44 +0000

[Left: Shawn Fanning, Right: Sean Parker]

Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker is best known for working together on Napster. Sean Parker was referred to as a co-founder in Napster in the movie The Social Network, but he was an early employee in the music sharing company that Shawn Fanning founded. Now the two are working together on a new video chat project called Yo.

Parker was previously a founding president for Facebook, the co-founder of Plaxo, and the co-founder of the charity application called Causes. Fanning has also been working on a photo social networking company called Path. More details to follow once we find out more about the start-up.

[LA Times]

Napster Makes A Come-Back In The Form Of An iOS Application!

Amit Chowdhry — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 03:44:03 +0000

Remember Napster? It was the music sharing service that was created by Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker in 1999 and ended up shutting down after the RIAA went after them for copyright violations.

At one point Napster had 80 million users sharing 25 million songs. Napster shut down in July 2001, declared bankruptcy in 2002, and ended up liquidating their assets after a potential acquisition by a German media firm fell through.

Napster’s brand and logo ended up being bought at an auction by Roxio Inc. and then ended up being called Napster 2.0. In September 2008, Napster was bought by Best Buy for $121 million.

Now Napster is available in the form of an iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad application. For $10 a month, you can stream from a catalog of 10 million songs. Offline listening is available too. Downloading the actual application is free. [iTunes Link]

[Engadget]

Napster’s $10 Million Offer For The Pirate Bay Gets Rejected

Amit Chowdhry — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 14:27:37 +0000

Global Gaming Factory made an offer to buy out The Pirate Bay for $7 million about a month ago. That deal is expected to close soon, but right out of left field another offer for The Pirate Bay has been made.

The offer came from John Fanning, the uncle of Napster founder Shawn Fanning. John Fanning is the former CEO of Napster. And Napster was bought out by Best Buy in September 2008 for $121 million.

The Pirate Bay turned down the offer shortly after GGF CEO Hans Pandeya and Fanning discussed the deal in London. GGF also received a $15 million offer from an unnamed Russian company. That would more than double GGF’s acquisition investment instantly.

“The basis for a legal site has been placed and contracts are expected to be concluded shortly with a leading player in the entertainment industry. The development of the company is very positive, and goes as planned,” stated Pandeya.