Reid Hoffman announced he will leave Microsoft's board of directors at the end of 2026, ending nearly 10 years of service following the 2016 Microsoft acquisition of LinkedIn [1, 2]. Hoffman joined the board shortly after Microsoft acquired LinkedIn for around $26-27 billion, with sources differing slightly on the exact price—$27 billion vs. $26.2 billion [1, 2].
Hoffman said, "At the end of the year, I should really be transitioning right now to being in founder mode," noting recent progress at Manus, his AI-native biopharmaceutical startup [1, 2]. Manus focuses on drug discovery using artificial intelligence and raised over $50 million in seed funding in 2025, with Hoffman serving as co-founder and chairman [2]. The company’s CEO is Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee, while Hoffman remains actively involved despite not being CEO [2].
Hoffman's departure follows his 2023 exit from the OpenAI board amid potential conflicts of interest [1, 2]. He was also a co-founder of the AI startup Inflection, whose co-founder Mustafa Suleyman joined Microsoft as AI CEO last year [1, 2]. Microsoft made an early $1 billion investment in OpenAI during Hoffman's board tenure in 2019 [2].
Hoffman faced scrutiny recently after publicly apologizing for past associations with financier Jeffrey Epstein following Department of Justice document releases early this year [1]. The DOJ is investigating a group linked to Hoffman for contributions related to lawsuits against former President Donald Trump, although details remain limited [1].
Microsoft announced Hoffman's decision in June, stating he would not seek reelection and planned to step down at year-end [1, 2]. Hoffman said, "One of the things I realized over the last month was that, we’re seeing such progress with Manus. I need to get back to founder mode" and focus on growing the AI biopharma company [2].
