Meta has announced the acquisition of Manus, an artificial intelligence platform founded by a Chinese team, in a move that stands out as an unusual case of a major US tech company buying a leading AI firm with Chinese roots.
Meta’s plan: run, sell, and integrate Manus
In its statement, Meta said it will take over “operating and selling Manus services,” while also incorporating Manus technologies into Meta’s products—most notably its Meta AI chatbot. The company did not publicly disclose the purchase price. However, press reports cited in the original coverage estimate the value of the deal at between $2 billion and $3 billion.
The acquisition places Manus directly inside Meta’s broader AI product strategy, where the company is pushing to build tools that can do more than answer questions. By integrating Manus’ agent capabilities, Meta could strengthen Meta AI’s ability to complete practical tasks—an area where AI competition is rapidly shifting from conversational chat to systems that can plan, decide, and execute.
How big is the Manus acquisition for Meta?
An early investor in the Manus team told Reuters that the transaction ranks among Meta’s largest deals in its history, after WhatsApp and Scale AI. Meta famously paid $19 billion for WhatsApp in 2014. In addition, the company paid up to $15 billion this year for a 49% stake in Scale AI.
Against that backdrop, a $2–$3 billion range (as reported by media outlets referenced in the report) would still make Manus a major purchase—especially at a time when large technology companies are trying to prove that heavy spending on AI can translate into real products and sustainable revenue.
What is Manus, and why does Meta want it?
Meta describes Manus as one of the most prominent general-purpose AI agents. Unlike traditional chatbots that mainly respond to prompts, AI “agents” are designed to carry out multi-step tasks with more autonomy—often chaining together research, reasoning, and tool use to produce outcomes rather than just text.
According to the report, Manus’ tools support a range of work-oriented use cases, including:
- Market research
- Programming
- Data analysis
Manus also operates as a subscription service. Businesses can sign up to use it for fees starting at $20 per month, as stated in the original report. That pricing model matters because it suggests an established commercial path—something many AI labs and consumer chatbot products still struggle to define clearly.
From chatbots to agents: the competitive stakes
The broader AI market is increasingly focused on agentic systems—tools that can decide what to do next, call external tools or APIs, and complete workflows end-to-end. In practice, this can mean drafting reports, summarizing and analyzing documents, writing and testing code, or supporting operational tasks inside companies. If Meta can fold Manus’ agent capabilities into Meta AI, it may accelerate Meta’s efforts to evolve beyond a “chat” interface and into an assistant that can reliably do things for users and organizations.
Zuckerberg’s AI strategy: spending big to compete with OpenAI and Google
The Manus deal fits within a broader strategy led by CEO Mark Zuckerberg. The report notes that Zuckerberg has been investing billions of dollars into AI development to compete with OpenAI and Google.
That effort, according to the report, is framed around a race to build what Zuckerberg calls “personal super intelligence.” To get there, Meta is pursuing a mix of:
- Heavy investment in infrastructure
- Recruiting top researchers
- Acquiring specialized startups
The acquisition of a multi-purpose agent platform aligns with that roadmap. Infrastructure and foundational model work are essential, but competitive advantage can also come from product-level systems that make AI useful and sticky for everyday work. Agent platforms can provide that layer—connecting models to tools, workflows, and business needs.
Why the deal could draw attention in Washington and Beijing
The transaction may raise sensitivities in both Washington and Beijing, the report says, at a time when AI competition has become a key pressure point in US–China relations.
Manus’ team reportedly includes about 100 employees worldwide. Its parent company, Butterfly Effect, raised funding earlier this year in a round led by the US venture capital firm Benchmark, according to the report.
Benchmark criticism and the political backdrop
Benchmark faced domestic criticism in the US over alleged violations of rules that prohibit American companies from investing in Chinese AI, the report notes. At the same time, the Manus team moved to Singapore, a decision that reportedly triggered criticism of the startup in some Chinese media.
These details underscore how AI companies with cross-border teams and capital structures can end up in the middle of geopolitical scrutiny—even when their products are sold internationally and their operations are distributed across multiple countries.
Manus’ rise: the “first general AI agent” claim
Manus gained widespread attention this year after its product circulated broadly, following the company’s announcement of what it described as “the world’s first general AI agent.” According to the report, Manus positioned its agent as capable of making decisions and executing tasks autonomously, requiring significantly less guidance than chatbot-style systems such as ChatGPT and DeepSeek.
Those claims reflect a key theme in the AI industry: the drive to reduce how much prompting and supervision users must provide. In agent design, the goal is to move from “tell me what to do” to “understand the objective and complete it,” while still staying aligned with the user’s intent and constraints.
Availability, performance claims, and Alibaba partnership
The report states that Manus says its products are not available inside China. It also claims its agent outperforms OpenAI’s DeepResearch service. In addition, Manus reportedly has a strategic partnership with Alibaba Group to collaborate on developing AI models.
In the current AI landscape, partnerships with major cloud and technology groups can help startups access infrastructure, data pipelines, and distribution channels. For Meta, acquiring a company with existing partnerships and a clear agent product may accelerate both development and go-to-market efforts—assuming the integration is executed smoothly.
Meta’s monetization pressure: turning AI spending into revenue
Meta is under growing pressure to justify massive AI spending without clearly defined paths to returns, whether on the consumer side or for businesses, the report says. That pressure is not unique to Meta, but it is especially visible given the scale of investments involved across infrastructure and talent.
According to informed sources cited in the report, Meta is considering launching paid subscriptions for its Meta AI assistant to handle tasks such as making bookings and creating video. While Meta has not confirmed specific pricing or launch timelines in the provided report, the direction suggests a search for durable AI business models beyond advertising.
In that context, Manus’ existing subscription structure—starting at $20 per month for businesses—could provide practical learnings for packaging, pricing, and positioning agent features for paying customers. It could also give Meta a faster route to enterprise-style offerings, depending on how Manus’ services are maintained and expanded under Meta’s ownership.
Conclusion
Meta’s acquisition of Manus signals an aggressive push into general-purpose AI agents, combining product capabilities with a broader strategy aimed at competing with OpenAI and Google. At the same time, the deal sits at the intersection of technology and geopolitics, likely drawing attention as US–China AI tensions continue to shape investment, partnerships, and cross-border acquisitions.
Attribution: This article is based on reporting originally published by aitnews.com.
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Based on reporting originally published by aitnews.com. See the sources section below.
