LinkedIn Co-Founder Joins Microsoft Board After $26B Acquisition

Considering that Microsoft paid $26 billion in order to get its own social media platform in LinkedIn, it’s clear that the tech giant really wanted the online service for professional networking. In order to make sure that it actually puts the social network to good use, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman was also brought into the inner circle at Microsoft as a member of the board of directors.

The board already had 11 members before Hoffman joined up, Microsoft’s blog post notes, so his addition just brought that number up to 12. The company’s CEO, Satya Nadella also expressed hype with regards to Hoffman’s membership, particularly about his potential contribution to Microsoft.

“I’ve long admired Reid’s ability to identify disruptive technologies and the passion we share for how digital platforms can create new opportunity for people around the world,” Nadella said. “As a board member, Reid’s leadership and strategic perspective will help chart the future of our company as we aim to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.”

Hoffman wrote his own blog post about the new development to explain why he wanted to become a member of the board. It’s basically the same reason why he agreed to the merger, to begin with.

“From this position, I will continue to focus on helping LinkedIn fulfill its mission of increasing the economic productivity of individual professionals and the companies they work for,” his post reads. “I’ll also contribute more broadly as Microsoft deepens its presence in Silicon Valley and continues to weave social, AI, and other technologies into it products.”

Aside from being a board member at Microsoft now, Hoffman is also known as a partner at the venture capital firm Greylock Partners, Geek Wire reports. He also sits on the board of several other firms, though, none of them come close to the size of Microsoft.