Reid Hoffman steps down from Microsoft's board to focus on AI drug-discovery startup Manus

Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn (acquired by Microsoft for $26.2 billion in 2016), is leaving Microsoft's board after a decade of service. He cited his desire to go 'founder mode' with Manus, a drug discovery startup where he serves as co-founder and chairman.

Manus raised over $50 million through seed rounds last year and is developing 'Move 37' AI—a term Hoffman uses to describe AI that supersedes human creativity in chemistry, particularly for cancer research. Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee, a physician, biologist, and Pulitzer Prize-winning author, serves as CEO.

Hoffman's departure resolves potential conflicts of interest: he had previously stepped down from OpenAI's board in 2023 for similar reasons, and was on Microsoft's board when the company made a $650 million deal with his earlier AI startup Inflection AI.