Meta Buys $2B Chinese AI, Promises to Lose Chinese Ties Like Your Ex

KEY POINTS

•Meta announced the $2 billion acquisition of Manus, a Chinese-founded AI startup that moved to Singapore in mid-2025.
•Manus, known for its 'general' AI agent launched in March 2025, generates over $125 million in annual revenue before the deal.
•Meta said it will sever Manus's ties to China, keep Manus operating in Singapore, and retain it as a stand-alone product.

In a dazzling $2 billion splash, Meta bagged Manus, the Chinese-born AI startup now calling Singapore home since mid-2025, promising to turbocharge AI the Meta way while firmly closing China's door—because nothing says 'tech independence' like dropping $2 billion on a company with Sherlock Holmes-level China ties. Manus, birthed by the butterfly-effect-named studio and launched in March 2025 with a 'general' AI agent that can screen résumés and do stock analysis (sometimes with creative data hallucinations), raked in $125 million revenue run rate before Meta gave it a corporate makeover. Founders Xiao, aka 'Red', and Peak Ji, the youthful tech nomads formerly at ByteDance and Tencent, will now enjoy Meta's vice-presidential babysitting and hopefully fewer geopolitical drama invites. Meta also promises no customer upset, Manus keeps operating in Singapore, Paris, Tokyo, San Francisco, markets still rocking a $75 million pre-buy stranger-fund round, and halts any service in China like Monica the browser AI extension, proving you can sell out China while wearing its startup badge—an entrepreneurial magic trick only Meta can perform.

Share the Story

(1 of 3)

Mockingbird News

@MockingbirdNews · now

Meta just spent $2 billion on Chinese AI Manus, then immediately said 'nope' to China ties. It’s like adopting a cat then pretending you never lived with a dog.

177/280 charactersReady to post