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Reid Garrett Hoffman (born August 5, 1967) is an American Internet entrepreneur, venture capitalist, podcaster, and author. Hoffman is the co-founder and former executive chairman of LinkedIn, a business-oriented social network used primarily for professional networking. He is also chairman of venture capital firm Village Global, a co-founder of Inflection AI, a co-founder of Manas AI, and a board member at Arc Institute.
Hoffman has been an influential figure in political circles, being a member of the Bilderberg Group since at least 2011 and the Council on Foreign Relations since 2015. He has actively participated in political funding and advocacy, contributing to various campaigns and organizations, and has been a vocal proponent of democratic institutions and humanism in technological innovation. As of 2025, Forbes estimates his net worth to be $2.6 billion.
Hoffman attended high school at the progressive Putney School in Vermont, where he engaged in farming activities. He graduated from Stanford University in 1990 with a Bachelor of Science in and cognitive science. He was awarded a Marshall Scholarship for graduate study abroad, and he earned a Master of Studies (MSt) in philosophy from Wolfson College, Oxford, in 1993.
His paternal great-great-great-grandfather was Theophilus Adam Wylie, a Christian Presbyterian minister and Indiana University president pro tempore. Louise Wylie Hoffman . Losaltosonline.com (October 15, 2013). Retrieved on October 23, 2013. Wylie House Museum. Iub.edu (November 16, 2010). Retrieved on October 23, 2013. Hoffman's uncle, Eric Hoffman, is a writer.
Microsoft proposed to acquire LinkedIn on June 13, 2016, for $26.2 billion in cash. Hoffman became a Microsoft board member on March 14, 2017.
Following Musk's exit, OpenAI faced financial challenges due to the shortfall in anticipated funding. With Hoffman's help, OpenAI transitioned to a "capped-profit" model by establishing a for-profit subsidiary to attract investment while maintaining its commitment to ethical AI development. Hoffman led the investment into the for-profit subsidiary through his family foundation, and joined the company's board of directors.
On March 3, 2023, Hoffman resigned from his board seat at OpenAI, citing a desire to avoid conflicts of interest between his board seat at OpenAI, investments in AI technology companies via Greylock Partners, and role as founder of Inflection AI.
In March 2024, Microsoft licensed Inflection AI's technology and hired Mustafa Suleyman, along with Inflection CSO Karén Simonyan and most of the company's 70 employees, in a deal reportedly worth $650 million. Following this transition, Inflection AI hired Sean White as CEO and shifted its focus to enterprise AI solutions.
In September 2024, the UK Competition and Markets Authority cleared Microsoft's hiring of former staff from Inflection AI, the AI startup Hoffman co-founded, along with associated arrangements between the companies.
As of May 2023, Hoffman and Greylock Partners have invested in at least 37 AI companies. For example, they were an early investor in Tome, makers of productivity software driven by AI. The company claims it is the fastest productivity software maker in reaching 1 million users.
Hoffman has dismissed calls to "pause" the development of advanced AI systems, calling such ideas "foolish" and "anti-humanist." Instead, he has called for the pace of development to be accelerated to help humans solve societal problems. For example, he's pointed to "its potential to transform areas like health care — "giving everyone a medical assistant"; and education — "giving everyone a tutor... I'm a tech optimist, not a tech utopian."
Inc. dubbed Hoffman the "evangelist in chief" for Inflection AI and AI in general, citing his meetings with the likes of President Biden and the Pope to discuss his vision and concerns around AI.
According to David Kirkpatrick's book The Facebook Effect, Hoffman arranged the first meeting between Mark Zuckerberg and Peter Thiel, which led to Thiel's initial $500,000 angel investment in Facebook. Hoffman invested alongside Thiel in Facebook's first financing round. The Facebook Effect: The Inside Story of the Company That Is Connecting the World: David Kirkpatrick: 9781439102114. Amazon.com. Retrieved on October 23, 2013. Meet Facebook's (Soon-To-Be) Billionaires. Business Insider (May 13, 2010). Retrieved on October 23, 2013.
Since 2009, Hoffman has provided venture capital to dozens of businesses across industries, including consumer and transportation technology, finance, and artificial intelligence. Examples include Airbnb, where he led the company's Series A financing round, Aurora Innovation, Taptap Send, and Helion Energy.
He served on Zynga's board of directors from March 2008 to June 2014 and currently serves on several public boards, including Aurora, Joby Aviation, and Microsoft.
Hoffman has made multiple investments in transportation technology companies, including Aurora, Convoy, Nauto, Nuro, and Joby Aviation, among others.
An early advocate for cryptocurrency, Hoffman led Greylock's 2014 Series A financing round in Xapo, a company that developed a bitcoin wallet product.
In August 2023, Hoffman said he will not serve as a general partner for Greylock's upcoming funds, but will continue to serve as a venture partner.
Hoffman has invested in California Forever, a company developing a planned city in Solano County, California.
In 2023, Hoffman delivered the Commencement Speech at Bologna Business School, urging students to prepare for the transformative potential of AI as a tool for amplifying human creativity, collaboration, and progress.
In 2024, Hoffman delivered a keynote lecture at the International Journalism Festival in Perugia, Italy, balance progress and responsibility while shaping a future where technology amplifies human potential and interconnectedness.
Hoffman delivered a lecture at the LSE School of Public Policy focusing on the transformative impact of artificial intelligence on society, governance, and global dynamics. He was appointed a Visiting Senior Fellow at the school in February 2025.
In May 2025, Chiba Institute of Technology conferred an honorary doctorate to Hoffman along with Laurene Powell Jobs and Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck in honor of their contributions to society.
Together with Prof. Fred Kofman, Senior Leadership Coach at Google, former MIT Professor and Zur Genosar, Israeli businessman and mindfulness teacher, the three founded The Hoffman Kofman Foundation, a non-profit organization that aims to develop leaders into active exemplars of excellence who elicit internal commitment to a shared mission of creating social and economic value from their followers and team members.
The book was released in the United States on February 14, 2012. It argues that individuals should think of themselves as businesses-of-one – the "CEO of their own career" – and draws many parallels between lessons learned from the stories of successful Silicon Valley technology companies and an individual's career.
Publishers Weekly reviewed the book positively, saying, "with plenty of valuable guidance relevant to any career stage, this book will help readers not only survive professionally in times of uncertainty but stand out from the pack and flourish." The Economist said that "Hoffman and Casnocha make a number of astute observations about shifts in the world of work."
The book became both a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller.
The book was released in the United States on July 8, 2014. It argues that previous career models of lifetime employment and free agency no longer work in a business world defined by continuous change. Instead, it proposes that employers and employees should think of each other as "allies" and move from a transactional approach to employment to a "relational" one.
The book became a New York Times bestseller. Arianna Huffington named The Alliance "the must-read book of the summer" in 2014. A Financial Times review was mixed, noting that those who aren't well-versed on the changing nature of the workplace may find the book useful, but readers looking for more surprising or in-depth insights will be disappointed.
In March 2023, Hoffman and his Chief of Staff Aria Finger began hosting a podcast called Possible. According to its creators, the podcast "sketches out the brightest version of the future—and what it will take to get there". The podcast has won three Webby Awards. In 2024, the episode featuring Trevor Noah won best Individual Episode and the episode featuring Bryan Stevenson won best Crime and Justice episode.In 2025, the episode featuring Kara Swisher won best Individual Episode.
In July 2024, The Washington Post reported that Hoffman had made a multimillion-dollar investment in the election technology company Smartmatic, which is currently undertaking defamation action against several press outlets.
In October 2025, Hoffman's name was brought up in a Senate hearing on Epstein while questioning attorney general Pam Bondi. Bondi called Reid Hoffman one of Epstein's closest confidants while being questioned by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse. On November 14, 2025, President Trump directed the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate Epstein's relationship with, among others, Hoffman.
Hoffman formerly served on the advisory council of the MIT Media Lab and as chair of the advisory board for QuestBridge (a provider of talented low-income students to top colleges/universities). Hoffman was also the first major funder of Crisis Text Line, a free, 24/7 crisis service via SMS in the US. In 2013, Hoffman provided a $250,000 matching grant () to Code for America. In July 2016, Hoffman funded the $250,000 cash-prize () MIT Media Lab MIT Disobedience Award, an award created by Hoffman and Joi Ito to honor and recognize acts of disobedience resulting in positive social impact. In November 2016, Hoffman and his wife, Michelle Yee, donated $20 million () to the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, a charity dedicated to eradicating disease by 2100. Hoffman and Yee's donation was for the Biohub, the Initiative's San Francisco laboratory. Hoffman also joined the board of the Biohub project. In May 2018, Hoffman and Yee joined The Giving Pledge, "a global effort to help address society's most pressing problems by encouraging the wealthiest individuals and families to give the majority of their wealth to philanthropic causes."
Hoffman is also a long-time supporter of Second Harvest of Silicon Valley. In 2021, in response to the massive increased need due to the pandemic, he offered to match any donations to the food bank, up to $2 million ().
In April 2013, a pro-immigration lobbying group called FWD.us was launched, with Reid Hoffman listed as one of the founders. In 2014, Hoffman donated $150,000 () to the Mayday PAC. Also in 2014, Hoffman contributed $500,000 () toward David Chiu's State Assembly campaign by funding an independent expenditure committee devoted to negative campaigning against his opponent: San Franciscans to Hold Campos Accountable—Vote No for Campos for State Assembly 2014. In 2016, Hoffman contributed $220,000 () in support of Democratic candidate for Vermont governor Matt Dunne, according to a mass-media disclosure filed at the Vermont Secretary of State's Office.
In 2016, Hoffman created a card game modeled after Cards Against Humanity intended to poke fun at US presidential candidate Donald Trump.
In December 2018, the New York Times broke a story alleging that Hoffman had "put $100,000 into an experiment that adopted Russia-inspired political disinformation tactics on Facebook" during the 2017 special Senate race in Alabama, in a project known as Project Birmingham which allegedly targeted Roy Moore voters. Hoffman did not immediately respond. He apologized later that month, also stating he was unaware what the non-profit—Washington, D.C.–based American Engagement Technologies, or AET—had been doing. Hoffman helped fund E. Jean Carroll's lawsuit for defamation and battery against Donald Trump. On May 9, 2023, a jury found Trump liable and awarded Carroll $5 million in damages.
In 2018, Hoffman helped fund Alloy, a company founded to legally exchange data with affiliated Democratic groups like super PACs. Hoffman supplied half of the $35 million to start it. The company shut down in 2021.
Hoffman has been an outspoken proponent of democratic institutions and voting rights and in 2021 published a piece on LinkedIn entitled Protecting Voting Rights: Good for America, Good for American Business. In this piece he discusses how "former American Express CEO Kenneth Chenault and Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier led corporate America to take an active role in this situation, by explicitly advocating for the rights of all American citizens to make their voices heard through the core democratic act of voting". In 2020, Hoffman also penned a piece that argued for making Voting Day a holiday.
Hoffman gave at least $500,000 to the Mainstream Democrats super PAC, which was founded in February 2022 and has since spent more than $1 million supporting the campaigns of moderate Democrats Henry Cuellar and Kurt Schrader.
In October 2022, Hoffman joined the Defense Innovation Board, an independent advisory board for the United States Department of Defense.
During the 2024 presidential election, Hoffman initially endorsed President Joe Biden's reelection campaign. Hoffman criticized Democratic donors who froze their campaign donations in the aftermath of Biden's performance at the June 2024 debate against Donald Trump. Following Biden's withdrawal from the race, Hoffman endorsed former Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign. Hoffman stated in an interview his desire that a potential Harris administration remove Lina Khan as Federal Trade Commission chair.
Hoffman has participated in the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting in Davos.
Hoffman has stated his intention of financially backing pro-Abundance agenda candidates.
Hoffman is a member of the Semafor World Economy Advisory Board.
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