The Chinese government has put a stop to Meta's acquisition of Manus, a prominent AI startup from China, and reports indicate that both companies are preparing to cancel the acquisition.



Meta, which continues to invest in AI-related technologies, announced the acquisition of Manus, an AI startup with ties to China, at the end of December 2025. However, Bloomberg reports that Meta is showing signs of withdrawing from the Manus acquisition due to demands from the Chinese government.

Meta Starts Unwinding Manus Deal by Splitting Operations, Data - Bloomberg
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-06-11/meta-severs-manus-data-access-after-china-orders-buyout-unwound

Meta reportedly moves to unwind $2B Manus deal after Beijing's demand | TechCrunch
https://techcrunch.com/2026/06/13/meta-reportedly-moves-to-unwind-2b-manus-deal-after-beijings-demand/

Manus was announced in March 2025 as a general-purpose AI agent capable of autonomously handling complex real-world tasks. Manus's co-founder is Chinese national Yi Chao Zhi, who is also its chief scientist. Manus attracted attention when it outperformed OpenAI's ' Deep Research ' in GAIA , a benchmark for large-scale language models (LLMs) developed by researchers at Meta and Hugging Face.

A Chinese startup has announced 'Manus,' an AI agent it claims surpasses OpenAI's deep research - GIGAZINE



Subsequently, at the end of December 2025, Meta announced it would acquire Manus for $2 billion (approximately 320 billion yen). According to the Wall Street Journal, Manus decided to 'distance itself from its Chinese roots' in order to attract investment from the United States, and has since established a base in Singapore.

Meta acquires Manus, an AI startup founded by Chinese entrepreneurs, for over 310 billion yen - GIGAZINE



However, China's Foreign Investment Security Administration has launched an investigation into Meta's acquisition of Manus, alleging that it may violate China's technology export controls and foreign investment regulations.

Then, on April 27, 2026, the National Development and Reform Commission of the People's Republic of China (NDRC), China's highest economic planning body, announced that it would block Meta's acquisition of Manus. The NDRC issued a statement saying, 'In accordance with laws and regulations, we have decided to prohibit foreign investment in the Manus project and have called on the parties concerned to withdraw from the acquisition deal.' However, while the NDRC issued an order to withdraw from the acquisition, it did not provide a detailed explanation of why it had made that decision.

Chinese government blocks Meta's acquisition of AI startup 'Manus' - GIGAZINE



However, technology media outlet TechCrunch points out that the situation is not that simple. As of March 2026, Meta had moved approximately 100 Manus employees to its Singapore office, and the founder of Manus had also taken on a leadership role at Meta. It has been reported that Manus CEO Xiao Hong is working directly under Meta's COO, Javier Oliván.

Meanwhile, it has been reported that the Chinese government has banned Manus's chief scientist, Mr. Zhi, and CEO, Mr. Hong, from leaving the country.

China bars Manus co-founders from leaving country amid Meta deal review, FT reports | Reuters
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/china-bars-manus-co-founders-leaving-country-it-reviews-sale-meta-ft-reports-2026-03-25/



Furthermore, in May 2026, it was reported that Manus's co-founders had held preliminary discussions to raise approximately $1 billion (approximately 160 billion yen) from external investors in order to reverse the acquisition by Meta.

Manus Weighs Raising $1 Billion to Unwind Meta Takeover - Bloomberg
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-05-21/manus-weighs-raising-1-billion-to-unwind-meta-takeover



Then, on June 11, 2026, Bloomberg reported that 'Meta is decoupling Manus from its internal systems and preventing employees from using Manus in internal projects.' This is seen as preparation for Meta and Manus to dissolve the acquisition and become completely separate.

The Chinese government is taking various measures to maintain its control over critical technologies such as AI, including ordering the forced sale of assets as in this case, and imposing travel restrictions on researchers and executives of private companies.

In addition, there are reports that major Chinese AI companies such as Moonshot AI , StepFun , and ByteDance will need government approval to receive investment from the United States.

China to restrict US investment in emerging AI and other domestic tech giants, BBG reports | Reuters
https://jp.reuters.com/markets/global-markets/ORT5IKW7VVJVLANAZJ7E5Z3DSE-2026-04-24/

Furthermore, because Manus's parent company, Butterfly Effect, is a Chinese company, questions have been raised about the acquisition of Manus in the United States as well.

Republican Senator John Cornyn posted on his X account, 'Why should American investors fund our biggest competitor in the field of AI (China), when the Chinese government is using that technology to challenge us economically and militarily? I do not agree with that idea.'




While Meta is showing signs of severing ties with Manus, Manus continues to provide new features and expands its functionality by integrating with Similarweb and Shopify.

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in AI, Posted by logu_ii