The US Justice Department is investigating Andreessen Horowitz. At issue is whether partners at the venture capital firm improperly sit on the boards of competing artificial intelligence companies. Bloomberg reported the investigation on Monday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Those sources put the investigation at nearly a year old. Monday’s story is the first public account of the Andreessen Horowitz DOJ probe. The department has made no final decision, the sources said, and the matter could end with no action.

The companies and the board seats

Two portfolio companies sit at the centre of it. Both sell software that helps businesses collect, organise, and analyse large volumes of data.

Ben Horowitz co-founded Andreessen Horowitz. He sits on the board of Databricks. Martin Casado, a partner at the firm, sits on the board of Fivetran. The firm backs both companies.

Casado also held a board seat at dbt Labs. Fivetran acquired that company in June. The Justice Department reviewed the deal for months after the parties announced it in October, the sources said, then cleared it unconditionally.

The department opened the board investigation at around the same time as that merger review. It continued the inquiry after the acquisition closed.

What the law says

The provision at issue is Section 8 of the Clayton Act. Congress passed it in 1914, and it now sits at 15 U.S.C. 19. Antitrust lawyers call the practice it targets an interlocking directorate.

The text says that “no person shall, at the same time, serve as a director or officer in any two corporations” that compete, where an agreement between them would breach antitrust law.

The statute carves out exceptions. Banks are one. So are companies below a threshold for total capital and profits.

Bloomberg reported that these investigations usually end one way. A director gives up one of the two board seats.

What the parties said

Spokespeople for Databricks and for the Justice Department declined to comment, Bloomberg said. Spokespeople for Andreessen Horowitz and Fivetran did not respond to its requests.

A Justice Department spokesperson later issued a statement that neither confirmed nor denied the inquiry, Forbes reported.

“We can confirm that the DOJ under the Trump Administration will continue to prioritize affordability for all Americans across our economy,” the spokesperson said. The Washington Examiner received the same wording.

Earlier cases under the same law

Bloomberg framed the inquiry as a continuation of a Biden-era enforcement push. Before then, the department rarely invoked the 1914 provision.

Jonathan Kanter ran the antitrust division at the time. Under him, the department pressed directors to leave a number of boards.

Ari Emanuel, then chief executive of Endeavor Group Holdings, left the board of Live Nation Entertainment in 2021. Directors at more than ten other companies gave up seats across 2022 and 2023.

A question about firms and individuals

One feature separates this case from those, Bloomberg reported. More than one individual director is involved here. That places the firm itself at the centre of the question rather than a single person.

The statute covers entities as well as people. A handful of courts have read it that way, according to Bloomberg. The point is not fully settled, which could give the firm room to contest any allegation the government brings.

The firm and Washington

Andreessen Horowitz has aligned itself closely with the second Trump administration, Bloomberg reported. The firm has also become a significant voice on federal AI policy.

Horowitz and co-founder Marc Andreessen each gave millions of dollars in 2024 to a group supporting Trump’s candidacy. Later that year, Horowitz gave $2.5mn to a super political action committee backing the Democratic candidate, Kamala Harris. Both figures come from Bloomberg.

Forbes cited ProPublica reporting that Andreessen donated more than $5mn to groups supporting Trump in 2024. It also cited a New York Times report from May. That put the firm and its co-founders at $115.5mn in donations ahead of the November midterms, the largest of any donor.

The firm endorsed Trump in the 2024 election, Forbes noted. Andreessen advised him at his Mar-a-Lago estate before the inauguration. He told Business Insider he spent half his time on it.

Andreessen has taken government advisory roles since. War Secretary Pete Hegseth appointed him to the Pentagon’s Defense Policy Board in June, the Washington Examiner reported. The Washington Post reported in July that the Federal Reserve had also enlisted him to advise on AI.

Forbes put Andreessen’s net worth at $1.9bn on Monday afternoon.

Forbes characterised the investigation as a rare case of the administration examining a political ally. Doug Calidas, a lobbyist who favours AI regulation, told Bloomberg the firm was “probably the most powerful single company that I’ve seen in recent years”.

The firm and its portfolio

Andreessen Horowitz managed $90bn in assets as of January, Bloomberg reported. It has since closed a $15bn fund, the largest in its history.

Its AI holdings include the coding company Cursor, which SpaceX acquired this month. They also include the voice company ElevenLabs.

The firm holds a stake in SpaceX itself, which went public in June. It has also backed OpenAI.

Databricks ranks among the portfolio companies seen as listing candidates. It closed $5bn last week at a $190bn valuation. Horowitz has led investments in it since a $14mn round in 2013, Bloomberg reported.

What happens next

The department has not said whether it will act. Its own sources told Bloomberg the inquiry could close without a finding.

The department is separately in settlement talks with Apple over an unrelated antitrust case. Neither Andreessen Horowitz nor Fivetran has commented publicly on the board investigation.

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