Marc Andreessen
Net Worth: $2 Billion (Forbes)
- In October 2024, Andreessen donated $2.5 million to the pro-Trump Right for America PAC. Following Trump’s reelection, Andreessen became involved with the Department of Government Efficiency as an “unpaid intern” helping to interview and recruit candidates.
- Scott Kupor, a managing partner at Andreessen Horowitz, was appointed as the Director of the Office of Personnel Management.
- In December 2024, Andreessen said he was spending “half” his time at Mar-a-Lago to advise Trump on tech and economic policy for his second term.
- Following Trump’s reelection, Andreessen spread false claims about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) during an interview on the Joe Rogan Podcast. He claimed that the CFPB under the Biden Administration was “terrorizing” the financial tech industry and “debanking” people for political views. In reality, Biden’s CFPB Chair Rohit Chopra was a vocal critic of debanking individuals for political reasons, calling on banks to increase transparency when they close accounts. Under his direction, the CFPB proposed a rule to ban banks from closing accounts for constitutionally protected political speech.
- Andreessen Horowitz was invested in fintech banking company LendUp, whose lending operations were shut down by the CFPB in 2021. LendUp allegedly violated a CFPB order regarding its illegal and deceptive marketing and violated fair lending regulations.
- The Trump administration has effectively dismantled the CFPB, terminating 90% of its staff before the courts blocked the layoffs. Under Trump’s direction, the bureau has dropped investigations into Capital One, Walmart, and Zelle, and dismissed a $80 million settlement with Navy Federal Credit Union. Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill also cut the CFPB budget by nearly 50%.
- In a private WhatsApp group chat with Trump administration officials and other people in the tech industry, Andreessen attacked immigration and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies on college campuses as “systematically cut[ting] most of the children of the Trump voter base out of […] higher education and corporate America.” Andreessen said universities would “pay the price” for DEI.
- In January, Trump signed an executive order declaring that DEI policies violate civil rights law and ordered agencies to investigate higher education institutions with over $1 billion in endowments that had DEI programs. Trump then issued another executive order in April directing university accreditors to end DEI requirements for universities to accept federal financial aid from students.
- Andreessen is a co-founder of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz that is heavily invested in artificial intelligence startups and financial technology firms. Andreessen Horowitz is invested in OpenAI, which partnered with the Trump administration for a $500 billion investment in AI infrastructure and developed Chat GPT Gov for federal agencies.
Image Credit: “Marc Andreessen-9” by JD Lasica is licensed under CC BY 2.0.