Reid Hoffman leaves Microsoft board after decade to go 'founder mode' with AI startup Manus
6 Sources
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Reid Hoffman is leaving Microsoft's board to go 'founder mode' with startup Manus
After a very profitable decade on Microsoft's board, Reid Hoffman is stepping down, the company announced Thursday. Hoffman joined the board after Microsoft bought his company LinkedIn for $26.2 billion in 2016. Hoffman was on Microsoft's board when it invested its first $1 billion into OpenAI in
[2]
Reid Hoffman to Leave Microsoft's Board of Directors
Karen Weise reported from Seattle, and Cade Metz from San Francisco. Reid Hoffman, a co-founder of LinkedIn, will not run for re-election to Microsoft's board this year, the company said in a regulatory filing on Friday. Mr. Hoffman has been a key figure in forging Microsoft's relationship with
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Reid Hoffman leaves Microsoft board to go 'founder mode' with AI drug startup Manus
Reid Hoffman is leaving Microsoft's board after a decade to focus on Manus, his AI drug discovery startup. The company has raised over $50 million. Reid Hoffman is stepping down from Microsoft's board of directors after nearly a decade. The company disclosed the departure in a regulatory filing on
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LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman to leave Microsoft board after nearly a decade
Reid Hoffman, the LinkedIn co-founder who has served on Microsoft's board since 2017, will not stand for re-election at the company's 2026 annual meeting, ending a board tenure that coincided with some of the most consequential years in the tech giant's history. Hoffman informed Microsoft on June
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Why LinkedIn Founder Reid Hoffman Is Leaving Microsoft's Board After Nearly A Decade - Microsoft (NASDAQ:
LinkedIn Founder Returns to Startup Roots Later, Hoffman resigned from OpenAI's board in 2023, citing potential conflicts of interest between his role on the board and his investments through Greylock Partners, as well as his personal holdings in startups building on OpenAI's technology. On a
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Reid Hoffman leaves Microsoft board to focus on AI startup Manas By Investing.com
Investing.com - Reid Hoffman will step down from Microsoft Corp.'s (NASDAQ:MSFT) board later this year to concentrate on his artificial intelligence company, the LinkedIn co-founder announced in a video posted to his social-media accounts. "We're seeing such progress with Manas, I said 'Look, I
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LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman is stepping down from Microsoft's board after nearly a decade to focus on Manus, his AI-powered drug discovery startup. The company has raised over $50 million and is pursuing what Hoffman calls 'Move 37' AI to develop novel cancer treatments that supersede human creativity in chemistry.
Reid Hoffman Exits Microsoft Board After Pivotal Decade
Reid Hoffman is leaving Microsoft's board of directors after nearly a decade of service, the company announced in a regulatory filing on Thursday
1
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. The LinkedIn co-founder joined the Microsoft board in 2017 after the tech giant acquired his professional networking platform for $26.2 billion in 20164
. Hoffman informed Microsoft on June 2 that he will not stand for re-election at the company's 2026 annual shareholder meeting, though he will remain a director until that meeting later this year4
.
Source: GeekWire
His tenure on the Microsoft board coincided with some of the company's most consequential AI deals. Hoffman was a board member when Microsoft invested its first $1 billion into OpenAI in 2019, a pivotal moment that reshaped the tech giant's trajectory
3
. As one of OpenAI's original investors, Hoffman served on that company's board until 2023, when he stepped down citing too many potential conflicts of interest1
. He was also present when OpenAI demonstrated its technology to Bill Gates, the Microsoft co-founder, a critical meeting that cemented Microsoft's further investment and close partnership with the AI startup2
.Conflicts of Interest and Regulatory Scrutiny
Hoffman's dual roles created mounting conflicts of interest over the years. He was also a co-founder of and investor in Inflection AI, another AI startup, and participated in Microsoft's vetting process when the company paid more than $650 million two years ago to license Inflection's technology and hired much of its staff
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. That deal brought Inflection co-founder Mustafa Suleyman into Microsoft, where he now leads a narrower AI division focused on superintelligence3
. The arrangement raised regulatory questions about conflicts on Big Tech boards3
.In a lawsuit brought against OpenAI and Microsoft in 2024, Elon Musk accused Hoffman and another Microsoft executive of violating antitrust laws because of their involvement with both companies
2
. While Musk lost the case after it went to trial this spring, he has vowed to appeal2
. Hoffman also faced three consecutive years of opposition from the National Legal and Policy Center, a conservative shareholder group that urged investors to vote against his re-election, citing his political activities and other concerns4
.
Source: NYT
Going 'Founder Mode' with AI Startup Manus
On a recent episode of his "Possible" podcast with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Hoffman explained his decision to embrace founder mode with his latest venture
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. "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," he told Nadella1
. The AI startup Manus is an AI-powered drug discovery startup focused on cancer research that has raised over $50 million through a couple of seed rounds last year1
. The biopharmaceutical company has backing from General Catalyst, with Hoffman serving as co-founder and chairman5
.
Source: Benzinga
Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee, a physician, biologist, and Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the 2011 book "The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer," serves as CEO
1
. Though Hoffman is cited as co-founder and chairman rather than CEO, he signaled on his podcast that he plans to be far more hands-on3
.Related Stories
Pursuing 'Move 37 AI' for Cancer Treatment
Hoffman believes Manus is making progress on what he calls Move 37 AI, machine intelligence that supersedes human creativity in chemistry, particularly to combat various cancers
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. The term refers to AI that supersedes human creativity, borrowed from AlphaGo's famous move against world champion Lee Sedol3
. He believes this concept applies to discovering novel compounds for AI for cancer treatment3
.The departure comes as AI drug discovery heats up across the industry. ByteDance's Anew Labs recently presented its first AI-designed therapy, and Google DeepMind's Isomorphic Labs has AI-designed drug candidates entering clinical trials. Nadella thanked Hoffman for his board service and expressed excitement about his next chapter. "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," Nadella wrote in a LinkedIn comment
4
. Microsoft's filing confirmed that Hoffman's decision was not the result of any disagreement with management over the company's operations, policies or practices2
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