John Fanning (businessman)

John Fanning (born December 21, 1963) is an Internet and technology investor and entrepreneur who was a co-founder in 1999 of Napster, an Internet file-sharing service focused on music files that was invented by his nephew Shawn Fanning, along with Sean Parker. John Fanning served as the chairman of its board as the company's chief executive, before it relocated from Massachusetts to San Mateo, California. He owned 70% of the company and represented the founders on the board of directors.

With Brian Moore and Tony Acero, Fanning built the first Internet chess server in the late 1980s and early 1990s. That project led to the development of Chess.net, an internet chess service rebuilt from scratch, launched in 1993. Currently Chess.net, owned by NetGames, is part of the portfolio of NetCapital, a small private equity firm. Fanning is the Chairman of NetCapital.

...
Wikipedia