Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn, during a Bloomberg Television interview in London, UK, on Monday, March 24, 2025.
Jason Alden | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Microsoft said Friday that LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman is leaving the software company’s board of directors after almost a decade.
Hoffman, 58, informed the board of his decision not to run for reelection 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 turning it into the leading site for professionals to connect and for recruiters to find talent, Hoffman sold the company to Microsoft for $27 billion in 2016. He joined Microsoft’s board early the next year.
Hoffman was also among the donors to OpenAI when it launched in 2015 as a nonprofit. As Microsoft allied itself closely to OpenAI through hefty investments and a technology partnership, Hoffman stepped down from the OpenAI board in 2023.
“By stepping off the board, I can proactively put to rest any downstream potential issues for both OpenAI and all Greylock portfolio companies I’ve backed,” Hoffman wrote at the time.
Hoffman is now a co-founder of Manas, which calls itself an “AI-native biopharmaceutical company.” In recent days, Hoffman indicated to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella that he should focus on that project.
“At the end of the year, I should really be transitioning right now to being in founder mode,” Hoffman said on a podcast alongside Nadella that was released Friday.
Hoffman was also a co-founder of artificial intelligence startup Inflection, alongside Mustafa Suleyman, a founder of the DeepMind AI lab that Google bought in 2014. In 2024, Microsoft said Suleyman and several other Inflection employees were joining Microsoft. Suleyman is now CEO of Microsoft AI, working on the development of generative AI models.
Hoffman of late has been embroiled in some controversy.
Earlier this year the U.S. Justice Department released documents showing communications between Hoffman and financier Jeffrey Epstein, who had been arrested on child sex trafficking charges before dying by suicide in a New York prison. Hoffman has apologized for associating with Epstein.
Hoffman has long been a donor to Democratic political campaigns. Reuters reported last week that the Justice Department was investigating a group with ties to Hoffman over contributions to E. Jean Carroll’s legal battles against President Donald Trump.
“He is investigating me because I supported E Jean’s lawsuit — where a jury found Trump liable for sexually assaulting her, and a court of appeals upheld the decision,” Hoffman wrote on X.
Before starting LinkedIn, Hoffman was an executive vice president at PayPal. He has also been a prominent venture capitalist, becoming a general partner at venture firm Greylock in 2009.
WATCH: Watch CNBC’s full interview with LinkedIn Co-Founder Reid Hoffman in Sun Valley
