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The buzziest party at Davos last year was thrown by Sean Parker, the co-founder of Napster and founding Facebook president, who was famously portrayed by Justin Timberlake in “The Social Network.” The fete featured stuffed animal heads with lasers shooting out of their eyes, and a musical performance by John Legend. Davos executive A-listers, including Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein and Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, were all there.
As the World Economic Forum meeting kicked off this week, some attendees speculated that Parker would be back with another blowout event. But Parker tells Quartz that he’s skipping Davos, and leaving the party hosting to Marc Benioff, the CEO of Salesforce.com and one of Parker’s co-hosts last year. ”If my companies are on track I’ll be back in the saddle next year,” Parker wrote in an email. (Parker cofounded Causes and Airtime, is a Spotify board member, and is executive general partner at Founders Fund.) As for last year’s party,”We did it tastefully despite whatever the press may have written. (Not withstanding laser eye taxidermy),” he wrote.
Benioff’s party is a Salesforce nightcap on the main drag in Davos tonight. ”After an exhilarating week, come and relax to some great music with great friends,” reads the invite. How do you top laser-eyed taxidermy? We’ll let you know after the event.
(Update, Sept. 24:)
In the end, the party was buzzy—but Benioff opted to not go over the top. Perry Farrell, from Jane’s Addiction and other bands, was the headliner DJ. The bartenders were flown in from London, and served drinks including Moët & Chandon champagne and gin and tonics with crushed blackberries. The Davos business crowd showed up, with Blankfein, Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt, and PayPal co-founder Max Levchin among the partygoers. There was no taxidermy in view.
Here are a few photos:
