--- title: The DOJ is investigating Andreessen Horowitz over... description: The US Justice Department is investigating whether Andreessen Horowitz partners improperly sit on boards of competing AI companies, under Section 8 of the 1914... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/the-doj-is-investigating-andreessen-horowitz-over-competing-board-seats-oj9aoc8mb twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: The DOJ is investigating Andreessen Horowitz over competing board seats | daily.dev og:description: The US Justice Department is investigating whether Andreessen Horowitz partners improperly sit on boards of competing AI companies, under Section 8 of the 1914... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/the-doj-is-investigating-andreessen-horowitz-over-competing-board-seats-oj9aoc8mb og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/Oj9aoc8mB.png og:image:alt: The DOJ is investigating Andreessen Horowitz over competing board seats og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # The DOJ is investigating Andreessen Horowitz over competing board seats **[The Next Web](https://daily.dev/sources/tnw)** · 5 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary The US Justice Department is investigating whether Andreessen Horowitz partners improperly sit on boards of competing AI companies, under Section 8 of the 1914 Clayton Act. The probe centers on Ben Horowitz's Databricks board seat and Martin Casado's Fivetran board seat (Casado previously also sat on dbt Labs' board before Fivetran acquired it). The inquiry is nearly a year old, predates public disclosure, and continued after the DOJ cleared the Fivetran-dbt Labs merger. Such cases typically resolve with a director resigning one seat, though this case is unusual because it involves multiple directors, potentially implicating the firm itself rather than one individual. The investigation comes despite Andreessen Horowitz's close ties to the Trump administration. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### What law governs venture capitalists sitting on boards of competing companies? Section 8 of the Clayton Act, passed by Congress in 1914 and codified at 15 U.S.C. 19, prohibits a person from serving as a director or officer of two competing corporations at the same time when an agreement between them would violate antitrust law. The statute exempts banks and companies below certain capital and profit thresholds, and it is sometimes read to cover firms as well as individuals. _Founders and investors navigating board governance can track antitrust rulings like this on daily.dev._ ### Why is the Justice Department investigating Andreessen Horowitz's board seats at Databricks and Fivetran? The DOJ is examining whether Ben Horowitz's seat on Databricks' board and Martin Casado's seat on Fivetran's board constitute an illegal interlocking directorate under antitrust law, since both companies sell competing data software. The investigation has run for nearly a year and continued even after regulators cleared Fivetran's acquisition of dbt Labs, where Casado also held a board seat. _Anyone weighing VC influence over rival startups can follow how this antitrust probe unfolds on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Will the DOJ’s investigation into a16z spook other VCs?](https://daily.dev/posts/will-the-doj-s-investigation-into-a16z-spook-other-vcs--lnnpkskrj) · TechCrunch · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Marc Andreessen joins the Pentagon’s board, and the old line blurs](https://daily.dev/posts/marc-andreessen-joins-the-pentagon-s-board-and-the-old-line-blurs-8k9ihhfvh) · The Next Web · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#venture-capital](https://daily.dev/tags/venture-capital), [#databricks](https://daily.dev/tags/databricks) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/the-doj-is-investigating-andreessen-horowitz-over-competing-board-seats-oj9aoc8mb) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"The DOJ is investigating Andreessen Horowitz over competing board seats","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/the-doj-is-investigating-andreessen-horowitz-over-competing-board-seats-oj9aoc8mb","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/the-doj-is-investigating-andreessen-horowitz-over-competing-board-seats-oj9aoc8mb"},"datePublished":"2026-08-17T22:22:14.809Z","dateModified":"2026-08-17T22:22:37.035Z","description":"The US Justice Department is investigating whether Andreessen Horowitz partners improperly sit on boards of competing AI companies, under Section 8 of the 1914...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/d202e0dd14d30ca855e4902ce8626b5d?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/d202e0dd14d30ca855e4902ce8626b5d?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"The Next Web","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"The Next Web","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/tnw","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/tnw"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/the-doj-is-investigating-andreessen-horowitz-over-competing-board-seats-oj9aoc8mb","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"venture-capital,databricks","timeRequired":"PT5M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Next Web","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/tnw"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"The DOJ is investigating Andreessen Horowitz over competing board seats"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/the-doj-is-investigating-andreessen-horowitz-over-competing-board-seats-oj9aoc8mb#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"What law governs venture capitalists sitting on boards of competing companies?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Section 8 of the Clayton Act, passed by Congress in 1914 and codified at 15 U.S.C. 19, prohibits a person from serving as a director or officer of two competing corporations at the same time when an agreement between them would violate antitrust law. The statute exempts banks and companies below certain capital and profit thresholds, and it is sometimes read to cover firms as well as individuals. Founders and investors navigating board governance can track antitrust rulings like this on daily.dev."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"Why is the Justice Department investigating Andreessen Horowitz's board seats at Databricks and Fivetran?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"The DOJ is examining whether Ben Horowitz's seat on Databricks' board and Martin Casado's seat on Fivetran's board constitute an illegal interlocking directorate under antitrust law, since both companies sell competing data software. The investigation has run for nearly a year and continued even after regulators cleared Fivetran's acquisition of dbt Labs, where Casado also held a board seat. Anyone weighing VC influence over rival startups can follow how this antitrust probe unfolds on daily.dev."}}]} ```