a16z board seats under DOJ magnifying glass

The Department of Justice has been looking at Andreessen Horowitz for almost a year now — a 112-year-old antitrust statute, the one nobody touches, being used against a venture firm. The issue is a16z has partners on the boards of companies that now compete: Ben Horowitz sits at Databricks, Martin Casado at Fivetran. Nothing exotic on its face. VCs do this all the time. The DOJ is just asking whether it crosses the line.

The companies weren't direct rivals when a16z first invested, but data infrastructure has gotten crowded. What looked like separate lanes has merged. The antitrust question isn't whether these firms compete — they do — but whether a16z's dual board seats give it enough cross-company information to steer markets. The law is old. The application isn't.

Why this matters for us: it shows the feds are actually willing to pull teeth against well-connected VC networks, which means the usual assumption that a16z can't be touched is about to get tested.