Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn, throughout a Bloomberg Tv interview in London, UK, on Monday, March 24, 2025.
Jason Alden | Bloomberg | Getty Pictures
Microsoft mentioned Friday that LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, is leaving the software program firm’s board of administrators after nearly a decade.
Hoffman, 58, knowledgeable the board of his determination to not run for reelection on Tuesday, Microsoft mentioned in a submitting. He’ll stay a director till Microsoft’s annual assembly, which might be held on the finish of the yr.
After beginning LinkedIn in 2002 and turning it into the main web site 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 via hefty investments and a know-how partnershiop, 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 corporations 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 venture.
“On the finish of the yr, I ought to actually be transitioning proper now to being in founder mode,” Hoffman mentioned on a podcast alongside Nadella that was launched on Friday.
Hoffman was additionally a co-founder of AI startup Inflection, alongside Mustafa Suleyman, a founding father of the DeepMind AI lab that Google purchased in 2014. In 2024, Microsoft mentioned Suleyman and a number of other different Inflection staff 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 prices 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.
Previous to beginning LinkedIn, Hoffman was an government vice chairman at PayPal. He has additionally been a outstanding enterprise capitalist, turning into a common associate at enterprise agency Greylock in 2009.
WATCH: Watch CNBC’s full interview with LinkedIn Co-Founder Reid Hoffman in Solar Valley
