China orders reversal of Meta deal
- China’s National Development and Reform Commission ordered Meta to unwind its completed acquisition of Manus on Monday, blocking the $2 billion-plus AI deal. - Manus is a Singapore-registered startup with Chinese roots; Reuters and CNBC reported Beijing had opened a probe in January after Meta’s December takeover. - The order is a rare post-closing reversal in tech and hits cross-border AI deals. (reuters.com)
China ordered Meta to unwind its completed purchase of artificial intelligence startup Manus on Monday, reopening a deal Meta announced in December. (reuters.com) (abcnews.go.com) China’s National Development and Reform Commission said it would prohibit foreign investment in Manus and required the parties to withdraw from the transaction. The agency’s statement did not name Meta, but multiple outlets identified the order as targeting Meta’s $2 billion-plus acquisition. (abcnews.go.com) (reuters.com) Manus is registered in Singapore but developed its products in mainland China, and Meta had presented the company as a way to speed up AI tools across its apps and business products. CNBC said Manus makes general-purpose AI agents that can handle multistep tasks such as coding, market research and data analysis. (cnbc.com) (abcnews.go.com) The case had been under scrutiny for months. China’s Ministry of Commerce said in January it would review whether the deal complied with rules on export controls, technology transfers, overseas investment and cross-border acquisitions. (cnbc.com) (scmp.com) Reuters reported Meta had already completed the acquisition and that Manus investors had exited after the takeover, making Beijing’s move an order to reverse a closed transaction, not just stop a pending one. Reuters also reported Manus staff had moved into Meta’s Singapore offices. (reuters.com) That is unusual in China’s tech sector. The South China Morning Post quoted Paul Triolo of DGA-Albright Stonebridge Group saying it was the first time the National Development and Reform Commission had used this type of legal instrument to unwind a major tech deal. (scmp.com) The fight sits inside a wider U.S.-China contest over advanced AI. Washington has restricted American backing for Chinese AI firms, while Beijing has tried to stop founders from moving companies, talent and intellectual property offshore. (cnbc.com) (reuters.com) Meta said in March that the acquisition complied with applicable law, and on Monday repeated that position after the order. Manus did not immediately respond to requests for comment reported by ABC News and the South China Morning Post. (cnbc.com) (abcnews.go.com) (scmp.com) For Meta, the immediate result is that a marquee AI acquisition now faces a government-ordered rollback. For startups with Chinese roots operating through Singapore, the Manus case narrows a path many founders had treated as workable. (reuters.com) (cnbc.com)
