Tencent Instead of Meta: Manus, the Creator of AI Agents, May Gain a Major Shareholder

Manus, an AI startup developing general-purpose AI agents, may be able to cancel its $2 billion deal with Meta with the help of its former Asian investors, the Financial Times (FT) has learned. Moreover, Chinese tech giant Tencent could become the startup’s largest shareholder, according to two sources familiar with the negotiations who spoke to the newspaper.

After Beijing demanded in late April that the acquisition of Manus by the U.S.-based company Meta be canceled, the startup’s management, as well as the AI company’s former Asian investors—including Tencent, ZhenFund, and HSG, are negotiating to support a deal that would nullify the acquisition. It is expected that the parties will agree to cancel the acquisition at the same valuation of Manus at which Meta was set to acquire the startup—$2 billion. As a result of this transaction, Tencent could become Manus’s largest shareholder. However, under the new structure, the Chinese tech giant will remain a minority shareholder, according to sources who spoke with the FT. Manus will continue to operate as an independent entity and will not be integrated into Tencent’s structure, the sources added.

Overall, discussions regarding the possibility of canceling the agreements between Meta and Manus are ongoing—new investors may join a potential deal, the FT reports, noting, however, that some former shareholders of the AI startup, such as the U.S. venture capital firm Benchmark, are unlikely to participate in this process.

Tencent's shares in Hong Kong fell 2% on July 10.

Tencent, Manus, and ZhenFund did not respond to the FT’s inquiries regarding a possible deal. Meta and HSG declined to comment.

Tencent, the FT notes, has a long-standing relationship with Manus and one of its co-founders, Xiao Hong. Before Manus, Xiao worked on a project whose main product was a customer relationship management (CRM) platform built on Tencent’s WeChat ecosystem. In addition, sources told the newspaper that when Tencent launched a built-in AI agent in WeChat, Xiao was one of the first external users invited to test the feature.

Now, the publication reports, the Chinese tech giant is counting on the fact that increasing its stake in Manus could help its own projects in the field of AI agent development.

Manus Meta agreed to the acquisition in December 2025—a few months after the AI startup relocated its headquarters and moved its key engineers from China, where it was originally founded, to Singapore. The AI company’s main product is a general-purpose AI agent capable of automating complex digital tasks, ranging from analyzing the S&P 500 stock index to drafting trade proposals. Meta quickly integrated Manus’s technology and employees into its platform. However, a few months later—in April—China, citing a violation of investment regulations, demanded that the agreement be terminated. Bloomberg reported that the deal raised serious concerns in China due to the potential leakage of technology and talent to the American company.

Bloomberg sources later reported that, among the options that could help Manus’s management bridge the gap with Meta, the AI startup was considering raising approximately $1 billion in external investment, as well as a subsequent IPO in Hong Kong.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor