Reid Hoffman exits Microsoft board, shifts to ‘founder mode’ with startup Manus
▼ Summary
– Reid Hoffman is stepping down from Microsoft’s board after a decade, having joined following Microsoft’s $26.2 billion acquisition of LinkedIn in 2016.
– While on the board, Hoffman was involved in Microsoft’s first $1 billion investment into OpenAI in 2019 and a $650 million deal with his AI startup Inflection AI.
– Hoffman is leaving to focus on his latest AI startup, Manus, a drug discovery company that raised over $50 million in seed rounds last year.
– Hoffman serves as Manus’s co-founder and chairman, while Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee is the CEO.
– Hoffman believes Manus is making progress on “Move 37” AI, which he says surpasses human creativity in chemistry to combat cancers.
After a lucrative decade-long tenure on Microsoft’s board, Reid Hoffman is stepping down, the company confirmed on Thursday. Hoffman originally joined the board in 2016, following Microsoft’s $26.2 billion acquisition of LinkedIn, the professional networking platform he co-founded.
During his time on the board, Hoffman was present for several pivotal AI investments. He was on the board when Microsoft made its first $1 billion investment in OpenAI in 2019. Hoffman, an early investor in OpenAI himself, had served on the model maker’s board until 2023, when he resigned citing mounting potential conflicts of interest. He also sat on Microsoft’s board when the tech giant struck a $650 million non-acquisition, acqui-hire deal with his AI startup Inflection AI, bringing co-founder Mustafa Suleyman into the fold.
Now, Hoffman is turning his focus to his latest venture. On a recent episode of his podcast “Possible,” while speaking with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Hoffman said he’s ready to shift into “founder mode” with Manus, his new AI-driven drug discovery startup. Manus raised more than $50 million across a couple of seed rounds last year, with backing from Hoffman himself and venture capital firm General Catalyst.
Hoffman is listed as a co-founder of Manus and serves as chairman of the board, though he does not hold the CEO title. That 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.”
Still, Hoffman is eager to dedicate more time and energy to the startup. “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 on the podcast. He expressed optimism that Manus is making headway on what he calls “Move 37” AI, a concept referring to AI that surpasses human creativity in chemistry, particularly in the fight against various forms of cancer.
(Source: TechCrunch)
