Stanford GSB is a member of the M7, an informal network of business schools regarded as among the most prestigious in the United States.

The school was founded in 1925 when trustee Herbert Hoover formed a committee consisting of Wallace Alexander, George Rolph, Paul Shoup, Thomas Gregory, and Milton Esberg to secure the needed funds for the school's founding.

Jack McDonald Hall, located adjacent to Schwab, opened in 2016 as an additional residence for MBA students with over 200 guest rooms.

[10] Stanford GSB maintains very close links with the venture capital, finance and technology firms of nearby Silicon Valley.

The MSx program is intended for students who are mid-career managers (minimum 8 years of professional work experience).

Stanford GSB offers Executive Education programs jointly with Harvard Business School.

The teaching components are coordinated 100% online although there are periodic meet-ups hosted at Stanford each year through the me2we program.

[18] William F. Sharpe's research interests focus on macro-investment analysis, equilibrium in capital markets and the provision of income in retirement.

In August 2006, the school announced what was then the largest gift ever to a business school—$105 million from Stanford alumnus Phil Knight, MBA '62, co-founder and chairman of Nike, Inc.[36] The gift went toward construction of a $375 million campus, called the Knight Management Center, for the business school.

In 2011, alumnus Robert King and his wife Dorothy made a $150 million gift to the school—making history as the largest donation to Stanford GSB—to found the Institute for Innovation in Developing Economies (also known as SEED) to focus on poverty relief in emerging markets.