Reid Hoffman attends an interview with Hillary Rodham Clinton at 92NY in New York on Jan. 28, 2025.
Dominik Bindl Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images
Microsoft LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman said Friday he is leaving the software company’s board of directors after nearly a decade.
Hoffman, 58, told the board of his decision not to seek re-election on Tuesday, Microsoft said in a filing. He will remain a director until Microsoft’s annual meeting, which will be held at the end of the year.
After starting LinkedIn in 2002 and making it the leading place for professionals to network and for employers to find talent, Hoffman sold the company to Microsoft for $27 billion in 2016. He joined Microsoft’s board early the following year.
Hoffman was also among OpenAI’s sponsors when it was launched in 2015 as a non-profit organization. As Microsoft became closely associated with OpenAI through large investments and technical cooperation, Hoffman stepped down from OpenAI’s board in 2023.
“By resigning from the board, I can eliminate any potential problems with both OpenAI and all of the Greylock portfolio companies that I have supported,” Hoffman wrote at the time.
Hoffman is now the founder of Manas, which calls itself an “AI-native biopharmaceutical company.” In recent days, Hoffman has indicated to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella that he should focus on that task.
“By the end of the year, I should be transitioning into founder mode,” Hoffman said in a podcast alongside Nadella released Friday.
Hoffman is also the founder of the AI startup Inflection, alongside Mustafa Suleyman, the founder of the DeepMind AI lab that Google purchased in 2014. In 2024, Microsoft said Suleyman and several other Inflection employees were joining Microsoft. Suleyman is now the CEO of Microsoft AI, which works on the development of generative AI models.
Hoffman has recently been involved in some controversy.
Earlier this year, the US Department of Justice released documents showing communications between Hoffman and financier Jeffrey Epstein, who was convicted of child sex trafficking before committing suicide in a New York prison. Hoffman apologized for his association with Epstein.
Hoffman has long contributed to Democratic political campaigns. Reuters reported last week that the Justice Department is investigating a group with ties to Hoffman for contributions to E. Jean Carroll against President Donald Trump.
“You are investigating me because I supported E Jean’s case – where a judge found Trump guilty of sexual assault, and the appeals court upheld the verdict,” Hoffman wrote in X.
Before starting LinkedIn, Hoffman was a vice president at PayPal. He also became a prominent venture capitalist, becoming a general partner in the venture firm Greylock in 2009.
WATCH: Watch CNBC’s full interview with LinkedIn Founder Reid Hoffman at Sun Valley
