Reid Hoffman Departs Microsoft Board to Focus on AI Drug Discovery Startup Manus

Microsoft announced Thursday that Reid Hoffman is leaving its board of directors. 2 billion. Hoffman co-founded LinkedIn in 2002.

During his time on the Microsoft board, the company made a $1 billion investment in OpenAI in 2019 and completed a $650 million acqui-hire of Inflection AI that brought co-founder Mustafa Suleyman to Microsoft. Hoffman resigned from OpenAI’s board in 2023.

He cited potential conflicts of interest between his OpenAI board role, his investments through Greylock Partners, and his personal holdings in startups building on OpenAI technology.

Hoffman is shifting his focus to Manus, an AI-powered drug discovery startup where he serves as co-founder, chairman, and investor. Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee, a physician, biologist, and author of the 2011 book “The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer,” is the company’s CEO.

Manus raised over $50 million in seed rounds last year. General Catalyst is also an investor. “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,” Hoffman said.

He added that the startup is advancing “Move 37” AI—systems designed to exceed human creativity in chemistry, particularly for cancer treatments.