Why is the DOJ investigating Andreessen Horowitz’s board seats?
🚨 Flash Sale 🚨 Get $100 off your Disrupt 2026 ticket Save $300 on your Disrupt 2026 ticket: REGISTER NOW. Andreessen Horowitz has two partners sitting on the boards of companies that now compete with each other: Ben Horowitz at Databricks and Martin Casado at Fivetran.
Nothing too scandalous on the surface, except the Department of Justice has reportedly been investigating the arrangement for almost a year, dusting off a 112-year-old antitrust law that’s rarely used against VCs. Board conflicts aren’t exactly new, and these companies weren’t necessarily direct competitors when a16z first invested in them. But as portfolio companies expand into each other’s markets, the DOJ’s scrutiny raises a much bigger question for venture firms: How do you manage board seats when the boundaries between your portfolio companies keep moving? On this episode of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, Kirsten Korosec, Anthony Ha, and Sean O’Kane dig into the a16z probe, what it could mean for VCs, and more of the week’s headlines. Theresa Loconsolo is an audio producer at TechCrunch focusing on Equity, the network’s flagship podcast. Before joining TechCrunch in 2022, she was one of 2 producers at a four-station conglomerate where she wrote, recorded, voiced and edited content, and engineered live performances and interviews from guests like lovelytheband. Theresa is based in New Jersey and holds a bachelors degree in Communication from Monmouth University. You can contact or verify outreach from Theresa by emailing theresa.loconsolo@techcrunch.com. View Bio October 13 – 15 San Francisco In less than 48 hours, your chance to save up to $300 on your tickets will end! Home batteries are suddenly cheap and everywhere. Here’s why. Cursor capitalizes on GitHub frustration, launches rival hosting platform Etched’s valuation doubles to $21B in a month AI automation startup Relay shuts down, staff joins Google’s Chrome team Stripe will reportedly acquire AI gateway startup OpenRouter for $7B+ Anthropic shares more details about how Claude’s new watermarks will work Every weekday and Sunday, you can get the best of TechCrunch’s coverage.
