Microsoft adds LinkedIn co-founder Hoffman to its board
Microsoft has added LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman to its board of directors.
As of Hoffman's appointment, announced March 14, Microsoft's board is back up to 12 members.Hoffman is a partner with Greylock Partners. He cofounded LinkedIn in 2002 and before that, was an executive vice president at PayPal.
Microsoft purchased LinkedIn last year for $26.2 billion. Earlier this year, Microsoft made Kevin Scott, LinkedIn's head of engineering, Microsoft's own chief technology officer.
Microsoft and LinkedIn are currently working on a variety of product and service integrations. Microsoft is looking to take advantage of LinkedIn's professional graph, or database, of various workplace-related entities.
In addition to Hoffman, Microsoft's board of directors consists of John Thompson, Microsoft independent chairman; Bill Gates, Microsoft founder and technology advisor; G. Mason Morfit, president, ValueAct Capital; Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft; Charles Noski, former vice chairman of Bank of America Corp.; Sandra Peterson, executive vice president, Group Worldwide Chairman for Johnson & Johnson; Dr. Helmut Panke, former chairman of the board of management at BMW AG; Charles Scharf, former chief executive officer of Visa Inc.; John Stanton, chairman, Trilogy Equity Partners and Trilogy International Partners; Teri List-Stoll, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Gap Inc.; and Padmasree Warrior, chief development officer of NextEV, and chief executive officer of U.S. for NextEV.
Update: Here's Hoffman's note about joining the Microsoft board. In addition to helping guide LinkedIn, Hoffman says, in his board role, he will "contribute more broadly as Microsoft deepens its presence in Silicon Valley and continues to weave social, AI, and other technologies into it products."
A bit more regarding the combined companies' futures from Hoffman's note:
"Following the combination with Microsoft, LinkedIn now has new resources and technology assets to deploy as it moves forward. Imagine a Cortana-like intelligent assistant helping you determine which third-degree connections make the most sense for you to pursue. Or LinkedIn Learning courseware that incorporates Microsoft's HoloLens mixed reality technology for more immersive learning experiences."