Reid Hoffman is leaving Microsoft’s board after a decade, citing a return to “founder mode” with his AI drug discovery startup Manus. His departure follows Microsoft’s major bets involving OpenAI and Hoffman-linked deals, including the company’s $650 million a
Reid Hoffman didn’t sound like a man easing into a quieter role. In a recent episode of his “Possible” podcast, he talked with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella about what comes next—and what came through was urgency: he wants to get back to “founder mode.”
Microsoft announced Thursday that Hoffman is stepping down from its board. closing a relationship that began in earnest after the tech giant bought his company. LinkedIn. for $26.2 billion in 2016. Hoffman had spent much of the last decade at the center of Microsoft’s biggest technology turns. and the move signals a deliberate pivot away from governance and back toward building.
His board tenure also ran alongside some of Microsoft’s most consequential decisions in artificial intelligence. In 2019, Hoffman was on Microsoft’s board when the company made its first $1 billion investment into OpenAI. He was also described as one of OpenAI’s original investors. and he served on the model maker’s board until he stepped down in 2023. saying he had too many potential conflicts of interest to continue.
Hoffman’s influence—at least through the companies he helped spawn—showed up again when Microsoft entered a non-acquisition, acqui-hire deal for $650 million with his AI startup Inflection AI. Through that arrangement, Microsoft hired Inflection co-founder Mustafa Suleyman.
Now the story is narrowing to a different kind of lab work. Hoffman is cited as a co-founder of Manus and chairman of its board, not the CEO. The CEO role belongs to Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee. a physician. biologist. and Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the 2011 book “The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer.”.
Manus is a drug discovery company. Hoffman said he’s ready to put more attention there because the startup is moving quickly. Manus raised over $50 million through a couple of seed rounds last year, and General Catalyst is among its investors.
Hoffman framed the timing around his own realization. “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 said. He tied that momentum to “Move 37” AI—AI that supersedes human creativity in chemistry—with a goal aimed at combating various cancers.
The sequence is clear in the way Hoffman’s roles have shifted over time: Microsoft’s board seat during major AI bets. a later decision to step away from OpenAI board work because of conflicts. and now a direct retreat from corporate oversight to a hands-on founder position. The through-line is Hoffman’s recurring attempt to balance influence and involvement—until the scale of Manus progress pulled him back in.
Reid Hoffman Microsoft board Manus AI drug discovery OpenAI LinkedIn acquisition Inflection AI aqui-hire Mustafa Suleyman Satya Nadella
So he’s leaving the board to play founder again? Sounds like normal millionaire behavior lol.
Wait, Microsoft paid 650 million for that Inflection thing and it was tied to him?? That seems like a lot for “deals” not results. Also all this AI stuff feels like smoke.
I don’t get how leaving a board is “conflicts of interest” when he’s still doing AI drug discovery. Isn’t that still connected? Like if he was on OpenAI then he’s still in the same circle. But maybe he’s technically not the CEO so it’s fine?
Manus sounds like the drug lab where they make the AI pills, right? And the Microsoft guy steps down and suddenly it’s “urgent.” I swear these companies say “founder mode” when they really mean “I wanna cash out without paperwork.”