Manus splits from Meta after China orders reversal of $2bn deal
The acquisition faced near immediate scrutiny from Chinese authorities. AI start-up Manus is going back to being an independent business after Meta’s $2bn-plus acquisition of the company was ordered to be. . .
The acquisition faced near immediate scrutiny from Chinese authorities. AI start-up Manus is going back to being an independent business after Meta’s $2bn-plus acquisition of the company was ordered to be unwound by Chinese authorities over national security concerns. “We must take this step to comply with regulatory requirements in specific parts of the world,” Manus said in ablog postyesterday (11 August). As part of these changes, it said that some of its users may lose the data they generated using Manus’ AI. “As we look to the future, we’re already preparing a series of new features that will push the boundaries of what’s possible for general AI agents once again. ”Meta acquired the Singapore-headquartered Manus(developed by China’s Butterfly Effect) late last December as part of its continued push into agentic AI. The acquisition faced near immediate scrutiny from Chinese authorities, who launched a probe shortly following the deal’s announcement. Meta said that the deal “complied fully with applicable law”. “Manus has built one of the leading autonomous general-purpose agents that can independently execute complex tasks like market research, coding and data analysis,” the Facebook parent said at the time its purchase. Its general purpose AI agent, previewed last year, offered users capabilities similar to those of the likes of OpenAI’s Deep Research. In February, Manus launched personal agents in messaging apps, allowing users to conduct research, structure data and make requests entirely through chat. Itlaunched the agents on Telegramdespite being owned by Meta at the time, but said that it planned to expand into WhatsApp, Line, Slack and Discord “very soon”. The deal was formallystruck down by China’s National Development and Reform Commissionin April, which said that the acquisition was not in accordance with State laws. The country is increasinglyprotective of its AI technology and talent, and has been makingconcerted efforts to build out its own infrastructureto back the technology. Reversing the acquisition was difficult for Meta, which had reportedly already integrated Manus employees, executives and technology into its own. Investors, including Tencent Holdings, ZhenFund and Hongshan, had also received their proceeds from the acquisition by the time the two companies proceeded to break up. Tencent is now reportedly set to becomeManus’ largest external shareholder. Don’t miss out on the knowledge you need to succeed. Sign up for theDaily Brief, Silicon Republic’s digest of need-to-know sci-tech news.