China Blocks Meta's $2 Billion Acquisition of AI Startup Manus – Decrypt

Briefly
China's Nationwide Growth and Reform Fee ordered Meta to unwind its acquisition of AI startup Manus.
The December 2025 deal was valued at roughly $2 billion.
Manus co-founders have been barred from leaving China throughout the regulatory assessment.
China's Nationwide Growth and Reform Fee ordered Meta to unwind its acquisition of Chinese language AI startup Manus, with regulators requiring each events to reverse the transaction.The fee acknowledged it's going to “prohibit international funding in Manus in accordance with legal guidelines and rules, and requires the events concerned to withdraw the acquisition transaction.”Meta had introduced the acquisition in late December 2025 for an estimated $2 billion. Inside weeks, China's commerce ministry launched an investigation in January 2026.By March 2026, the scrutiny intensified. Manus co-founders Xiao Hong and Ji Yichao have been summoned to Beijing for regulatory conferences and subsequently barred from leaving the nation, based on Reuters. The startup had already begun unwinding operations months earlier, closing its China workplaces and shedding dozens of staff in July 2025.Manus develops what it calls “actually autonomous” AI brokers able to planning and executing duties independently. The corporate relocated from China to Singapore round mid-2025, based on TechCrunch, although the transfer didn’t cease Chinese language regulators from issuing the veto on Monday.The startup's development trajectory attracted vital investor consideration. Manus accomplished a $75 million funding spherical led by Benchmark in Could 2025 and reached $100 million in annual recurring income by December 2025, simply eight months after launching.The Nationwide Growth and Reform Fee's involvement—because the ministry overseeing financial planning and AI coverage—underscores the strategic significance Beijing locations on synthetic intelligence property. Round 100 Manus staff had already moved into Meta's Singapore workplaces in March 2026, TechCrunch reported.Meta’s acquisition of Manus is a component of a bigger push by the social media large—the guardian firm behind Fb and Instagram—to massively develop its AI ambitions and attempt to catch as much as giants like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google.The corporate confirmed final week that it'll minimize 8,000 jobs and go away 6,000 roles unfilled, after which introduced it's going to doubtlessly spend billions of {dollars} on Amazon’s AI chips.Each day Debrief NewsletterStart each day with the highest information tales proper now, plus authentic options, a podcast, movies and extra.