LinkedIn Co-Founder Reid Hoffman To Leave Microsoft’s Board After Almost A Decade

Reid Hoffman, co-founder of networking website LinkedIn, will leave Microsoft's board of directors this year, the software giant said in a filing on Friday.

Hoffman will stay on the board of directors until its 2026 annual shareholder meeting, scheduled for the end of the year.

The billionaire had been a part of Microsoft's board since 2017.

Hoffman's decision to not stand for re-election was not the “result of any disagreement with management on any matter relating to the Company's operations, policies, or practices,” Microsoft said in its filing.

Hoffman is a co-founder of Manas, an “AI-native biopharmaceutical company”, as per CNBC.

On a podcast released Friday, Hoffman told Microsoft CEO Nadella that he wanted to focus more on his AI company.

“At the end of the year, I should really be transitioning right now to being in founder mode,” the 58-year-old said.

In a post on social media platform X, Satya Nadella thanked Hoffman for his contributions to the company. “Thanks so much for the conversation, Reid. Always great talking to you about the future. I am so grateful for all of your contributions to Microsoft and the board over the years, and excited to see you get back to founder mode with Manas,” he wrote.

 

Thanks so much for the conversation, Reid. Always great talking to you about the future.

I am so grateful for all of your contributions to Microsoft and the board over the years, and excited to see you get back to founder mode with Manas.

— Satya Nadella (@satyanadella) June 5, 2026

Hoffman started LinkedIn in 2002. He sold the company to Microsoft in 2016 for $26.2 billion, as per Reuters. He has also worked as an executive vice president at PayPal.

Hoffman funded OpenAI when it was started as a nonprofit in 2015. As Microsoft allied itself closely with the AI startup, Hoffman stepped down from the OpenAI board in 2023.

In 2022, the billionaire co-founded AI startup Inflection alongside Mustafa Suleyman, who is now the head of Microsoft AI.  

Hoffman has been embroiled in controversies of late. Earlier this year, the US Justice Department put out documents showing communications between the billionaire and late child sex offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein, CNBC reported. Hoffman issued an apology for associating with Epstein.

Last week, the Justice Department was investigating a group with ties to Hoffman over contributions to E. Jean Carroll's sexual abuse and defamation lawsuits against US President Donald Trump.

Hoffman, a longtime donor to the Democratic Party, claimed he was being investigated because he had supported Carroll's legal battles.