From the Editor

Last Updated Mar 10, 2026, 1:01am EDT

  • Reid Hoffman cofounded professional networking site LinkedIn in 2003 and is a partner at venture capital firm Greylock Partners.
  • In 2016, Hoffman sold LinkedIn to Microsoft for $26.2 billion in cash and joined Microsoft's board.
  • He is an investor in Airbnb, which went public in 2020, and autonomous driving pioneer Aurora, which acquired Uber's self-driving unit.
  • Hoffman is part of the so-called "PayPal Mafia," and was one of the first employees at the payment company that was later sold to eBay.
  • Before PayPal, Hoffman created the (failed) dating site SocialNet, which some regard as the first online social network.
  • He has put more than $1.5 billion into impact investments through charitable entities like donor-advised funds. Forbes excludes this sum from his fortune.
Wealth History
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Forbes Lists

list appearances

39

Personal Stats

Age
59
Source of Wealth
LinkedIn, Self Made
Self-Made Score
8
Residence
Palo Alto, California
Citizenship
United States
Marital Status
Married
Education
Master of Science, Oxford University; Bachelor of Arts/Science, Stanford University
Did you know
Hoffman was an early investor in Facebook; he put in $40,000 after introducing Peter Thiel to the startup in 2004.
He hosts the podcast "Masters of Scale," which discusses startup scaling with tech leaders and has been downloaded more than 50 million times.
In Their Own Words

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Reid Hoffman
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