Meta has finished pulling apart its operational ties with Manus, the Singapore-based AI startup it tried to acquire late last year. Data sharing between the two companies has been halted, marking the practical end of what was supposed to be a landmark deal in the agentic AI space.
The split didn’t happen by choice. China’s National Development and Reform Commission ordered a full unwinding of the transaction back in April, citing national security concerns. Meta is now stripping previously transferred technology and data from its systems.
How the deal fell apart
On December 30, 2025, Meta announced it would acquire Manus for somewhere between $2 billion and $2.5 billion. Manus, founded by Chinese entrepreneurs Xiao Hong, Ji Yichao, and Zhang Tao, had built a platform specializing in autonomous AI agents. The startup had processed more than 147 trillion tokens and served millions of users.
On April 27-28, 2026, the Chinese government blocked the deal outright. The NDRC didn’t just say “no” to the acquisition going forward. It mandated the complete unwinding of the entire transaction, including the return of Chinese assets and the removal of any transferred technology and data from Meta’s systems.
