Manus resumes solo operations after collapse of US$2 billion Meta deal

The AI start-up said its founders would continue to lead the firm as an ‘independent agent lab’, after Beijing torpedoed its acquisition by Meta

The Chinese-founded artificial intelligence start-up Manus announced on Tuesday that it had formally resumed independent operations, more than four months after Beijing blocked its US$2 billion acquisition by Meta Platforms.

The company’s founding team would continue to lead Manus as an “independent agent lab”, the firm said in a blog post on its website, as it sought to move on from a months-long saga that has sent ripples through the Chinese and global technology sectors.

The announcement came three weeks after Manus notified users that it was erasing some data generated on or after December 29 – the date the company was acquired by Meta – “to comply with regulatory requirements in specific parts of the world”.

Manus said on Tuesday that affected users could restore their data through the company’s “restoration portal”.

“For some users, this transition required backing up and restoring data, as well as navigating a temporary interruption to access. We know this took you additional time and effort, and we are very grateful for your patience and trust,” it said.

The resumption of independent operations marked what the company called the start of its “next chapter”, after the collapse of its Meta deal that could set a precedent for global deal making involving Chinese-founded tech start-ups.

Launched in March 2025, Manus is a developer of autonomous AI agents capable of handling complex tasks such as web research and writing reports.