Tencent is negotiating with Manus’ early investors ZhenFund and HSG for the buyback of the Chinese AI agent startup from Meta – for at least two billion dollars. Beijing had previously instructed Meta to unwind the acquisition, which was closed in December 2025. If completed, Tencent would become the largest shareholder of Manus.
Beijing Orders Unwinding of the Billion-Dollar Deal
Meta had acquired Manus, according to its own announcement, on December 29, 2025; the purchase price was over two billion dollars. The startup, founded in 2025, originally from China and now based in Singapore, develops autonomous AI agents that independently perform multi-step tasks in virtual computer environments while operating software on their own. According to company figures, the Manus agent had processed more than 147 trillion tokens and spun up over 80 million virtual computers for users worldwide before the acquisition. Manus CEO Xiao Hong justified the original sale to Meta with a more stable financial foundation for the company.
In April 2026, the Chinese government opened a review of the deal. Authorities treated the agent technology as a strategic asset and saw, as TechCrunch reported, a possible violation of foreign investment rules. Beijing then ordered the complete unwinding of the acquisition. Meta subsequently began cutting Manus off from internal systems, halting data exchange, and revoking employee access to Manus tools.
Tencent and Early Investors Plan the Buyback
Tencent, which had already invested in Manus during early funding rounds, is now negotiating alongside investment firms ZhenFund and HSG for a repurchase. The price is expected to be, as Reuters reported citing the Financial Times, at least the two billion dollars Meta had paid. If the deal closes, Tencent would become the largest shareholder of Manus. Earlier US investors such as Benchmark are unlikely to take part in the transaction going forward. In parallel, Manus’ own founders are reportedly raising around one billion dollars from outside investors to buy back shares themselves – a step that could later also enable a structure as a Chinese joint venture and a Hong Kong listing.
Tencent, Manus, and Meta have not officially commented on the negotiations in response to press inquiries. Manus is expected to remain organizationally independent, while Tencent mainly acts as a capital provider and infrastructure partner – similar to other stakes the group holds in AI startups. The deal fits Tencent’s strategy of hosting AI agents more heavily on its own platform and charging usage fees for it.
Agent-Based AI Is Becoming a Geopolitical Factor
The case shows how tightly governments now control ownership of advanced AI technology. Chinese authorities viewed Meta’s access to Manus as a risk to the domestic technology base, since agent systems increasingly count as security-relevant infrastructure – comparable to semiconductors or foundation models. The case ranks among the clearest interventions by Beijing yet against a cross-border AI acquisition by a US company and is likely to make other US corporations more cautious about investing in Chinese AI startups going forward.
According to Tech Startups, Manus now generates around 500 million dollars in annual revenue; the figure is independently unverified. Despite extensive Chinese AI investment, raising a double-digit-billion valuation on short notice may not be trivial for the consortium. That underscores how fiercely Chinese investors are now competing for stakes in sought-after agent startups. For Tencent, the move would also be another building block in its own agent strategy alongside in-house models like Hunyuan and its cloud business, through which customers could eventually gain access to Manus.
It remains to be seen whether Tencent and the early investors can raise the capital in time, and how much operational influence the group will actually exert over Manus after the deal. An official closing date for the buyback has not yet been announced.
