China forces breakup of Meta-Manus deal as AI firm goes solo
BEIJING: AI startup Manus said Tuesday it would resume “operating as an independent company,” months after Beijing blocked Meta’s multi-billion-dollar acquisition of the Chinese-developed, Singapore-based company.
Beijing has forced the breakup of Meta's US$2 billion acquisition of AI startup Manus, allowing the independent company to operate autonomously once again. Data from late December may be deleted as a result of the separation, and users affected by the change are advised to back up their information. Manus, developed by Butterfly Effect, is an artificial intelligence agent designed to perform tasks without human intervention.
The US tech giant Meta initially pursued the acquisition in December with the aim of bringing the leading agent to billions of users and unlocking business opportunities across its products. However, China's top economic planning body blocked the deal in April, preventing Meta from acquiring Manus. During this time, Beijing also restricted the travel of two of Manus' co-founders, preventing them from leaving the country.
Meta has maintained that the transaction complied with all applicable laws. The crackdown on Singapore-washing, a practice where companies move to take advantage of looser regulations, funding, and customers, marks a significant turning point for Beijing in the US-China AI race. Many former investors of Manus are in discussions to retake stakes in the startup at a valuation of US$2 billion, with Tencent potentially becoming its largest shareholder.
Written by urgent.news from New Straits Times's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — it may contain errors, so check the original before relying on it.
