Electric air taxi startup Joby to add LinkedIn co-founder, Google exec to board

FILE PHOTO: Reid Hoffman, co-founder of Linkedin and venture capitalist, arrives at the annual Allen and Co. Sun Valley media conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, U.S., July 9, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

(Reuters) - Electric air taxi startup Joby Aero Inc will add Silicon Valley heavyweight Reid Hoffman and executives from Google and Toyota to its board, as the company prepares to go public through a merger with a blank-check firm.

Reinvent Technology Partners, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) headed by LinkedIn co-founder Hoffman, Zynga founder Mark Pincus and longtime investor Michael Thompson, is taking the 12-year-old company public in a $6.6 billion reverse merger.