Sean Parker, who co-founded Napster and was Facebook's first president, has been replaced on Spotify's board of directors. The tech sage was an early financial backer at the now-ubiquitous streaming service -- he introduced it to his old boss Mark Zuckerberg -- and he joined the board in 2009.
Another early investor, Klaus Hommels, has also left the board, as did Pär-Jörgen Pärsson. As part of the shakeup, Spotify has introduced four new members: former Disney COO Thomas Staggs; ex-YouTube product exec Shishir Mehrotra; former Cisco CEO Padmasree Warrior; and Swedish investor Cristina Stenbeck.
The changes to the board were revealed in a filing with the Luxembourg Trade and Companies Register and since confirmed by Spotify. A spokesperson for Spotify told Billboard that the trio departed "as the company moves into a different stage. They remain investors, friends and supporters of Spotify."
Parker played a major role in Spotify's expansion in the U.S. and led negotiations with label stakeholders to secure the licensing deals necessary to stream music legally. Peter Thiel's Founders Fund, of which Parker used to be a partner, participated in Spotify's Series C funding round.
Staggs, Mehrotra, Warrior and Stenbeck will join active Spotify board members, including co-founder and CEO Daniel Ek, co-founder Martin Lorentzon, Christopher Marshall and Ted Sarandos.
The changes to the board arrive right as Spotify prepares for a listing of some kind on the New York Stock Exchange. Last week, the company released its financial results for 2016, which showed a doubling of net losses despite huge growth in sales of $3.09 billion, up from $2.1 billion in 2015. Ek also revealed last week that the service has grown to 140 million active users, with more than 50 million paying for it.
