Chinese early investors in AI agent developer Manus are planning to buy the startup back from Meta at the same $2 billion price Meta paid. The move follows a Chinese government order to unwind the completed acquisition, and surging revenue could hand the investors a substantial profit.
June 18, 2026 · Cross-Border AI Deal
Bought, Blocked, Bought Back: Manus Returns to Chinese Investors for the Same $2B Meta Paid
After Beijing forced Meta's $2 billion acquisition to be unwound on national security grounds, early backers including HSG, ZhenFund and Tencent plan to repurchase the agentic-AI startup — reclaiming a business whose revenue has quadrupled since the original deal.
$2B
Same price for both deals — Meta's purchase and the planned buyback
$2
Reported price per autonomous task on the agentic platform
86.5%
GAIA Level 1 pass@1 — beating Deep Research (74.3%)
Same valuation, a far bigger business
Annual recurring revenue has roughly 4–5×'d between the two $2B price tags — making the repurchase a potential windfall.
~$100M
ARR at
→
~$400–500M
Run rate as of
From acquisition to forced reversal
DEC 2025
Meta acquires Manus for over $2 billion
→
APR 2026
Chinese authorities order the deal unwound on security grounds
→
JUN 2026
Early backers plan buyback; possible China-led JV toward HK IPO
First case under China's foreign-investment security review in which a completed deal is being forcibly reversed.
WHAT WORKS
Works like an "intern" — explains its reasoning and improves with feedback
Autonomous multi-step tasks: slides, websites, research
Outperformed rival tools on analytical research
ROOM TO IMPROVE
Congestion errors from server overload
Degraded performance on large or long-form tasks
Needs user help at paywalls and CAPTCHAs
Benchmark, which led the original acquisition, is not expected to join the repurchase.
Meta has reportedly separated Manus from its internal systems and halted data sharing. Meta, Manus and the investors have all declined to comment — leaving the final outcome of negotiations uncertain.
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