The move comes as investors look for alternatives after the Chinese government ordered Meta to back out of its $2 billion takeover.
issued Friday, July 10, 2026, 12:45 p.m. — Updated, Friday, July 10, 2026 · 02:10 PM
[SINGAPORE] Chinese gaming and internet company Tencent is in talks to become Manas’s largest shareholder, two people familiar with the matter said on Friday (July 10), as investors explore alternatives after the Chinese government ordered Meta to back out of its $2 billion acquisition of the artificial intelligence startup.
financial times newspaper We first reported the Tencent talks earlier in the day.
Tencent, along with Mr. Manas’s original investors Zenfund and HSG, are planning to buy the company back from Meta for more than $2 billion, one of the sources and a third party briefed on the matter said.
Tencent, Manus, Meta and the two investment companies did not respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
Manas, which develops AI agents that can perform tasks autonomously with minimal human intervention, moved its operations from China to Singapore last year.
In December, Meta announced the acquisition of Manus to strengthen its efforts in agent AI. However, in April, China launched an investigation into whether the deal violated investment rules.
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April’s Manus order was the latest high-profile case in which China blocked or challenged cross-border transactions with non-Chinese entities amid heightened geopolitical tensions between China and the United States.
Since the Chinese government’s order, Meta has internally split its business with Manus and stopped sharing data between the two companies, Bloomberg News reported in June.
Manas was hailed by state media and commentators as China’s next deep seeker in early 2025 after releasing what was billed as the world’s first general-purpose AI agent. Reuters
