DOJ Opens Antitrust Inquiry Into Andreessen Horowitz Over AI Board Seats – finance.biggo.com

The U.S. Department of Justice has spent nearly a year investigating whether partners at Andreessen Horowitz, one of Silicon Valley’s most prominent venture capital firms, are improperly serving on the boards of competing artificial intelligence companies, according to people familiar with the matter.
The inquiry centers on Databricks and Fivetran, two enterprise data and AI companies backed by the firm. Regulators are examining whether the board representation violates the Clayton Act’s restrictions on interlocking directorates, the 1914 antitrust law that bars directors or officers from simultaneously serving at competing corporations.
Ben Horowitz, co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz, sits on Databricks’ board, while partner Martin Casado serves as a director at Fivetran. Both companies provide technology that businesses use to collect, organize and analyze large volumes of data, including tools for building AI applications.
Casado had also served on the board of dbt Labs before Fivetran acquired the company in June. The Justice Department reviewed that transaction for months after it was announced in October, but ultimately cleared the deal without conditions. The separate board investigation opened around the same period as the merger review and has continued after the acquisition closed, the people said.
The department has not made a final decision on whether to take enforcement action, leaving open the possibility that the inquiry could end without any formal measures. Spokespeople for Databricks and the Justice Department declined to comment, while Andreessen Horowitz and Fivetran did not respond to requests for comment.
A Revived Enforcement Tool
Under former Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter, the Justice Department revived enforcement of the interlocking directorates provision, which had largely gone dormant for decades. The department pushed directors at more than a dozen companies to give up board seats during enforcement actions in 2022 and 2023.
Among the prominent examples, Ari Emanuel, then chief executive of Endeavor Group Holdings, stepped down from Live Nation Entertainment’s board in 2021. Companies including Brookfield Asset Management, American Equity Investment Life Holding, Sun Country Airlines, Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, N-able, Dynatrace, SolarWinds, Qualys, SumoLogic and F5 declined to appoint board members without acknowledging liability as a result of the probe at the time.
The Andreessen Horowitz investigation presents a novel question because regulators are examining the venture firm’s representation through more than one partner. The law is written to apply to companies as well as individuals, and several courts have accepted that interpretation. Andreessen Horowitz could still challenge that reading if the government eventually brings allegations, though no such decision has been made.
Databricks at the Center
Databricks ranks among the most valuable private technology companies in Andreessen Horowitz’s portfolio and remains a potential candidate for an initial public offering. The company last week announced $5 billion in new funding at a $190 billion valuation.
Andreessen Horowitz has backed Databricks since its early years, with Ben Horowitz leading a $14 million investment in the company in 2013. Years of follow-on investments have left Horowitz sitting on billions of dollars in potential returns tied to Databricks.
The firm’s exposure to AI extends well beyond the companies involved in the DOJ inquiry. As of January, Andreessen Horowitz had approximately $90 billion in assets under management and recently raised a $15 billion fund, its largest fundraising haul, to invest across the startup sector. The firm has put billions of dollars into AI businesses, including coding company Cursor and voice AI developer ElevenLabs. It has also backed OpenAI and holds a major investment in SpaceX, which debuted on the public market earlier this year.
Washington Connections
The antitrust investigation has unfolded while Andreessen Horowitz has developed close ties with Washington during President Donald Trump’s second administration. Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz each donated millions of dollars in 2024 to a group aligned with Trump while he was running for president. Later that year, Horowitz also contributed $2.5 million to a super PAC supporting Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
Marc Andreessen has since taken a role in a federal policy initiative focused on artificial intelligence. The Federal Reserve appointed him in July to co-lead an AI task force studying the technology’s effects on productivity and employment. The panel also includes Stanford University economist Charles I. Jones and Microsoft executive Asha Sharma.
Within the Trump administration, Andreessen Horowitz has become an influential participant in AI policy discussions. The firm successfully pressed the administration to remove several safety guardrails governing the use of artificial intelligence.
Political spending connected to the firm has also extended into digital assets. A July review found that Andreessen Horowitz contributed $24 million to Fairshake, a crypto-focused political action committee, during the second half of 2025, part of broader industry spending that left the PAC and its affiliates with about $193 million on hand in January.
People familiar with the DOJ investigation said regulators have not reached a final decision on how to proceed, and the inquiry could still close without any action against the venture firm.
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