China blocks Meta's Manus deal; founders eye $1B buyout

The co-founders of AI startup Manus are exploring options to fulfill Beijing's regulatory order to unwind their recent multi-billion-dollar acquisition by Meta Platforms, which includes raising an estimated $1 billion from external investors to buy back their operation.

Manus co-founders Xiao Hong, Ji Yichao, and Zhang Tao are currently discussing a massive funding round with external backers. The goal is to secure a valuation that matches or exceeds the $2 billion-plus price tag Meta paid to acquire the company. The founders are also reportedly prepared to inject their own capital to bridge any remaining financial gaps. If successful, the move could transition Manus into a joint venture with its new backers, setting the stage for a potential initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong, News.Az reports, citing Reuters.

California-based tech giant Meta initially announced its acquisition of Manus in late December to integrate advanced autonomous AI features across its social media platforms. However, the deal immediately drew intense regulatory scrutiny from Beijing over concerns regarding the potential loss of critical domestic tech talent and strategic artificial intelligence infrastructure to an American corporation. Chinese regulators quickly launched a formal review into whether the transaction violated investment rules and barred two of Manus’s co-founders from leaving the country.

Last month, Beijing officially ordered Meta to completely reverse the acquisition. The dramatic unwind order arrives amid rising U.S.-China tech tensions and highly aggressive scrutiny of foreign investments in advanced domestic technology firms. Reversing a major cross-border acquisition months after its completion is virtually unprecedented in the tech sector, leaving both corporations to navigate complex technical separations of integrated code.

Manus, which initially operated out of Wuhan and Beijing before relocating its legal headquarters to Singapore last year, specializes in developing general-purpose AI agents. These autonomous systems are designed to function as digital employees—capable of independently planning, executing, and managing complex tasks like market research, file automation, and data analysis inside sandboxed virtual computers with minimal human input.

News.Az 

By Aysel Mammadzada