By Faith Barbara N Ruhinda & Dr. Kivumbi Earnest Benjamin, L.H.D (Hon.) at 1117 EAT on Wednesday 1 July 2026

Reid Hoffman is a billionaire entrepreneur and venture capitalist best known as the co-founder of professional networking platform LinkedIn, which he launched in 2003 before growing it into one of the world’s most influential business networks.

In 2016, Hoffman sold LinkedIn to Microsoft in a $26.2 billion cash deal and subsequently joined Microsoft’s board of directors.

Beyond LinkedIn, Hoffman is a partner at venture capital firm Greylock Partners and an early investor in several major technology companies, including Airbnb, which went public in 2020, and autonomous driving company Aurora Innovation, which was formed after acquiring Uber’s self-driving unit.

He is also part of the so-called “PayPal Mafia,” a network of former executives from the online payments company PayPal that was later acquired by eBay.

Before PayPal, Hoffman founded the dating site SocialNet, one of the earliest attempts at an online social network, though it ultimately failed commercially.

In addition to his investments, Hoffman has directed more than $1.5 billion into impact-focused philanthropy through charitable vehicles such as donor-advised funds. However, this figure is not included in his net worth calculations by Forbes.

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