Reid Hoffman

Reid Hoffman (born August 5, 1967, in Stanford, California) is an American venture capitalist and entrepreneur who served as executive vice president and a founding board member of PayPal, cofounded and served as executive chairman of LinkedIn, and joined Greylock as a general partner in 2009. Hoffman is a PayPal Mafia principal, a 2026 Dialog retreat registrant per the leaked WIRED roster, and a documented attendee at the 2015 Jeffrey Epstein dinner whose guest list also included Peter Thiel, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, Joi Ito, and Epstein himself. Hoffman publicly apologized in September 2019 for his role in helping repair Epstein's post-conviction public image.¹²³

The PayPal and LinkedIn Trajectory

Hoffman joined PayPal in its founding period as executive vice president of external relations, serving on the board and managing the company's external positioning through the 2002 sale to eBay. His role placed him among the PayPal Mafia cohort (alongside Peter Thiel, Max Levchin, Elon Musk, David Sacks, Ken Howery, Luke Nosek, Roelof Botha, and Keith Rabois) whose subsequent ventures shaped the post-PayPal Silicon Valley generation. Hoffman founded LinkedIn in 2002 (before the eBay sale closed) and built it into the dominant professional-networking platform, taking it public in 2011 and selling it to Microsoft in 2016 for 26.2 billion dollars.¹

The Microsoft acquisition and Hoffman's subsequent board seat at Microsoft placed him inside the enterprise-software and cloud-infrastructure orbit adjacent to the Thiel commercial network. Hoffman joined Greylock as a general partner in 2009, and his Greylock portfolio overlaps with the broader Silicon Valley venture ecosystem that the Founders Fund and the Thiel network operate within.¹

The Epstein Relationship and the 2019 Apology

Axios reported on September 12, 2019 that Hoffman had emailed the outlet to apologize for his role in helping repair Epstein's post-conviction public image. The apology covered Hoffman's 2015 interactions with Epstein, including introductions Hoffman facilitated related to Epstein's attempts at image rehabilitation and to the MIT donations Epstein was arranging through Joi Ito at the MIT Media Lab. The Wall Street Journal reported in 2023, on the basis of the Epstein calendars, that Hoffman visited Epstein's private island.²³⁴

The August 2015 dinner that Hoffman hosted in Palo Alto, ostensibly to raise money for the MIT Media Lab (documented in the Epstein Files Transparency Act releases, EFTA00344556 and EFTA00344564), placed him at the same table as Peter Thiel, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, Joi Ito, and Epstein. Hoffman apologized in September 2019 for his role in the Epstein image-rehabilitation effort. No Epstein victim has made a public allegation against Hoffman.²³⁵

The Dialog Registration

Hoffman appears on the leaked 2026 Dialog retreat roster, per WIRED's reporting on the leak. Dialog, cofounded in 2006 by Peter Thiel and Auren Hoffman, convenes U.S. officials, foreign government figures, and Silicon Valley executives at off-the-record annual retreats. Hoffman's presence on the roster places a sitting Greylock general partner and a former Microsoft board member inside the same convening network whose 2026 registrants included Senator Cory Booker, Senator Ted Cruz, Governor Jared Polis, and the NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe General Alexus Grynkewich.¹

Hoffman's politics diverge from the Thiel network's Republican alignment. Hoffman has been a prominent Democratic donor and operative, supporting Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and publicly opposing Donald Trump. He appears on the roster alongside both Democratic and Republican elected officials.¹

The Musk Clash and the Epstein-Files Politics

Musk and Hoffman clashed publicly over their respective Epstein ties in 2025-2026. The Anadolu Agency reported on the online exchange on X, in which each accused the other of the closer Epstein relationship. Musk, whose 2015 Epstein dinner attendance is documented in the Epstein file releases (EFTA00344556), pointed to Hoffman's apology for the image-rehabilitation work. Hoffman, whose apology is documented in the September 2019 Axios exclusive, pointed to the broader pattern of Musk's Epstein contacts.⁶

Hoffman subsequently posted on LinkedIn calling for the full release of the Epstein files and pledging to advocate for victim justice. The public clash is part of the broader political dynamics around the 2025-2026 file releases, in which multiple Silicon Valley principals whose Epstein relationships have been documented have positioned themselves on the question of disclosure. ABC News reported that Hoffman's ties to Epstein face a Trump-ordered investigation, though no Epstein victim has made a public allegation against Hoffman.⁵⁶

Hoffman has funded Democratic candidates and opposed Trump, while Musk moved to Republican alignment across 2022 to 2024. Both appear on the leaked 2026 Dialog retreat roster.¹