China forces Meta to unwind Manus
- China’s National Development and Reform Commission ordered Meta on April 27 to cancel its acquisition of Manus, an artificial intelligence startup founded in China. - Reuters reported the deal was worth more than $2 billion, and Beijing said the parties had to withdraw the transaction. - The order widens China’s scrutiny of frontier AI deals and U.S. investment in Chinese startups. (reuters.com)
China ordered Meta on April 27 to unwind its acquisition of Manus, an artificial intelligence startup founded in China and now based in Singapore. (reuters.com) (cnbc.com) China’s National Development and Reform Commission said the transaction had to be withdrawn under Chinese laws and regulations. Reuters reported the deal was worth more than $2 billion. (reuters.com) (finance.yahoo.com) Meta announced the Manus purchase in December, and the deal had already drawn scrutiny in both Beijing and Washington. CNBC reported Beijing opened a probe in January. (cnbc.com) (reuters.com) Manus builds so-called AI agents, software designed to carry out multistep tasks with less human prompting than a standard chatbot. Meta had pursued the company as it tried to strengthen its position in the race with OpenAI and Google. (bloomberg.com) (the-decoder.com) The intervention shows how China is treating advanced AI talent and intellectual property as assets it does not want moving easily to U.S. buyers. Reuters said the order reflects Beijing’s push to stop frontier technology from being acquired by American companies. (reuters.com) (finance.yahoo.com) The case also lands in the middle of a broader U.S.-China technology fight shaped by American export controls on advanced chips and Chinese efforts to keep domestic AI capacity at home. (reuters.com) (forbes.com) Meta did not immediately respond to Reuters after the order. CNBC reported the company had said in March that the acquisition complied fully with applicable law. (reuters.com) (cnbc.com) For Meta, the result is simple: a multibillion-dollar AI deal announced in December is now being canceled by Beijing before Manus can become part of its agent push. (reuters.com) (techcrunch.com)
