Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn, throughout a Bloomberg Tv interview in London, UK, on Monday, March 24, 2025.
Jason Alden | Bloomberg | Getty Photos
Microsoft stated Friday that LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman is leaving the software program firm’s board of administrators after virtually a decade.
Hoffman, 58, knowledgeable the board of his choice to not run for reelection on Tuesday, Microsoft stated in a submitting. He’ll stay a director till Microsoft’s annual assembly, which will probably be held on the finish of the yr.
After beginning LinkedIn in 2002 and turning it into the main website for professionals to attach and for recruiters to seek out expertise, Hoffman bought the corporate to Microsoft for $27 billion in 2016. He joined Microsoft’s board early the following yr.
Hoffman was additionally among the many donors to OpenAI when it launched in 2015 as a nonprofit. As Microsoft allied itself intently to OpenAI by means of hefty investments and a know-how partnership, Hoffman stepped down from the OpenAI board in 2023.
“By stepping off the board, I can proactively put to relaxation any downstream potential points for each OpenAI and all Greylock portfolio firms I’ve backed,” Hoffman wrote on the time.
Hoffman is now a co-founder of Manas, which calls itself an “AI-native biopharmaceutical firm.” In current days, Hoffman indicated to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella that he ought to concentrate on that mission.
“On the finish of the yr, I ought to actually be transitioning proper now to being in founder mode,” Hoffman stated on a podcast alongside Nadella that was launched Friday.
Hoffman was additionally a co-founder of synthetic intelligence startup Inflection, alongside Mustafa Suleyman, a founding father of the DeepMind AI lab that Google purchased in 2014. In 2024, Microsoft stated Suleyman and several other different Inflection workers have been becoming a member of Microsoft. Suleyman is now CEO of Microsoft AI, engaged on the event of generative AI fashions.
Hoffman of late has been embroiled in some controversy.
Earlier this yr the U.S. Justice Division launched paperwork exhibiting communications between Hoffman and financier Jeffrey Epstein, who had been arrested on youngster intercourse trafficking fees earlier than dying by suicide in a New York jail. Hoffman has apologized for associating with Epstein.
Hoffman has lengthy been a donor to Democratic political campaigns. Reuters reported final week that the Justice Division was investigating a gaggle with ties to Hoffman over contributions to E. Jean Carroll’s authorized battles in opposition to President Donald Trump.
“He’s investigating me as a result of I supported E Jean’s lawsuit — the place a jury discovered Trump accountable for sexually assaulting her, and a court docket of appeals upheld the choice,” Hoffman wrote on X.
Earlier than beginning LinkedIn, Hoffman was an govt vice chairman at PayPal. He has additionally been a distinguished enterprise capitalist, turning into a common accomplice at enterprise agency Greylock in 2009.
WATCH: Watch CNBC’s full interview with LinkedIn Co-Founder Reid Hoffman in Solar Valley
