- Chinese investors are reportedly moving to buy Manus back from Meta at its original $2B price.
- Beijing has reportedly pushed for tighter control over foreign-owned AI firms.
- Manus’ annualised revenue has grown to $400M-$500M, up from $100M at acquisition.
Several of Manus’ early Chinese backers are reportedly working to buy back the AI agent startup from Meta at the same $2 billion valuation that the Facebook parent paid when it acquired the company, according to a report by The Information. The push comes as the Singapore-based startup’s revenue has climbed sharply since the deal closed, making the original price look increasingly favourable to the investors trying to reclaim it.
The reported buyback effort involves some of Manus’ earliest supporters, including the Chinese investment firms HSG and ZhenFund, as well as Tencent. HSG and ZhenFund are reportedly considering raising fresh capital specifically to acquire Meta’s stake. Benchmark, another early Manus backer, is not expected to join the process.
Neither Meta nor Manus has publicly commented on the report.
The effort comes amid reported Chinese regulatory pressure over foreign ownership of strategically important AI companies. Chinese regulators reportedly reviewed whether the acquisition violated investment restrictions on AI firms, and according to reports, ordered Meta to unwind the deal. Bloomberg has separately reported that Meta has already begun to operationally separate the two companies, ending internal collaboration and halting data-sharing arrangements.
What is Manus and why did Meta acquire it?
Manus develops autonomous AI agents: systems designed to independently plan, execute, and complete multistep tasks rather than simply respond to prompts, a category many in the industry see as the next major shift after generative chatbots.
Meta acquired the company in December as part of chief executive Mark Zuckerberg’s push into agentic AI. At the time, Manus was generating around $100 million in annualised revenue.
That figure has since climbed to between $400 million and $500 million in annualised revenue, a four- to five-fold increase, according to the report. The growth reflects strong enterprise demand for AI agents capable of automating complex workflows, and it’s a key reason early investors now appear motivated to reclaim the company at what looks, in hindsight, like a low price.
Why China wants the deal reversed
Manus is reportedly exploring a restructuring that would turn it into a joint venture incorporated in China, a move that could pave the way for a future listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and help address Beijing’s foreign-ownership concerns.
The episode underscores how geopolitics is reshaping AI dealmaking. Acquisitions that once looked like straightforward bets on agentic AI are increasingly getting tangled up in questions of sovereignty and regulatory control, and for Meta, the harder task now may not be building AI agents but holding onto the one it already bought.
