Meta Acquires Manus in $2 Billion AI Agent Deal

Meta has acquired Manus, a Singapore-based developer of general-purpose AI agents, in a transaction reported at over $2 billion. The deal, announced December 29, brings Meta a revenue-generating AI product that can autonomously execute complex tasks including market research, coding, and data analysis. Manus claimed more than $100 million in annual recurring revenue eight months after its commercial launch earlier this year.

The acquisition arrives as major AI platforms compete to move beyond chatbots toward systems capable of independently completing multi-step workflows. Alexandr Wang, Meta’s chief AI officer, confirmed the transaction without disclosing financial terms.

The Deal at a Glance

Meta confirmed it has acquired Manus and plans to integrate the company’s AI agent capabilities across its platform ecosystem. Manus will continue operating its subscription service, and its co-founder Xiao Hong will report to Meta COO Javier Olivan, according to sources close to the transaction.

Deal terms remain officially undisclosed beyond the reported valuation range. Meta stated it will sever all Chinese ownership interests in Manus and discontinue the company’s operations in China.

Manus was founded in Beijing in 2022 as part of Butterfly Effect before relocating to Singapore in mid-2025. Earlier this year, Benchmark led a $75 million funding round that valued Manus at $500 million. The acquisition closed within approximately ten days of initial discussions.

What Manus Brings to Meta

Manus operates as a multi-agent system that orchestrates multiple AI models to perform tasks traditionally requiring human judgment and tool use. The platform can access local files, navigate applications, analyze datasets, and produce formatted outputs based on user-defined criteria.

Demonstrated use cases include screening job candidates from document archives, building websites from local files, and conducting comparative market analysis. The company claims to have processed more than 147 trillion tokens of text and data while supporting over 80 million virtual computing environments.

In October, Microsoft began testing Manus capabilities within Windows 11, allowing users to generate websites from local files through the operating system. This deployment demonstrated the platform’s ability to integrate with existing software environments. Meta currently offers Meta AI, a chatbot integrated across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Manus represents a distinct capability set focused on autonomous task completion rather than conversational assistance. The acquisition provides Meta with both an established subscriber base and technical infrastructure for agent orchestration.

Strategic Context

This marks Meta’s fifth AI-related acquisition in 2025, following deals for PlayAI, WaveForms, Rivos, and Limitless. The company has committed at least $60 billion in capital expenditures this year, primarily for AI infrastructure, with expectations for increased spending in 2026.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg has framed these investments as necessary to build what Meta calls “superintelligence” services. Meta has pursued revenue generation from AI capabilities after years of infrastructure spending.

While Meta AI reaches hundreds of millions of users across its platforms, the company does not currently charge for most AI features. Manus arrives with a working subscription model and demonstrated willingness to pay among business users.

The deal addresses Meta’s positioning in the AI agent category. Microsoft operates Copilot at enterprise scale, Google has embedded Gemini across Workspace applications, and OpenAI continues expanding ChatGPT’s task automation capabilities.

Meta’s approach emphasizes open-source foundation models through its Llama program while simultaneously acquiring specialized capabilities and talent. The Manus transaction follows this pattern: Meta gains a commercial agent product and an engineering team while maintaining its commitment to Llama development.

Industry Implications

The transaction demonstrates that revenue-generating AI products command substantial acquisition premiums. Manus reached reported annual recurring revenue of over $100 million within months of launch—a metric that appears to have factored significantly in Meta’s valuation decision.

The deal highlights the accelerating globalization of AI talent and technology acquisition. A U.S.-based platform acquiring a Chinese-founded, Singapore-based AI company represents a path that navigates geopolitical constraints while accessing technical capabilities developed outside traditional Silicon Valley channels.

Meta’s explicit commitment to sever Chinese ownership ties indicates awareness of potential regulatory scrutiny. For startups building in the agent category, the Manus trajectory from March launch to December acquisition at reported multibillion-dollar valuation suggests that commercial traction matters more than extended development timelines.

The autonomous AI agents market is projected by multiple research firms to reach tens of billions in annual revenue by 2030, with enterprise adoption accelerating. Meta’s acquisition positions the company directly within this growth trajectory through both technology access and an operational playbook.

What Happens Next

Meta stated it will scale Manus services to more businesses while integrating agent capabilities into Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. The specific integration timeline and whether Manus features will remain subscription-based or become platform-wide capabilities remains unconfirmed.

Regulatory review represents an open question. The transaction involves a platform with billions of users acquiring technology with roots in China, even with stated plans to eliminate Chinese ownership and operations.

The fate of Manus’s existing partnerships, including its testing arrangement with Microsoft, will likely become clearer as integration proceeds. Meta has not disclosed whether it will absorb Manus’s technical team into existing AI research groups or maintain the operation as a distinct unit.

Closing Assessment

The Manus acquisition reflects Meta’s calculated approach to AI product development: build foundational capabilities internally while acquiring commercial validation and specialized talent externally. At a reported $2 billion, the deal represents significant capital deployment for a company that launched this year.

Whether Manus technology proves differentiated enough to shift competitive dynamics in AI agents remains to be determined through actual product integration and user adoption. The revenue figures the company has reported suggest commercial viability, but scaling agent capabilities across platforms with billions of users presents distinct challenges from serving a subscription user base.

The transaction establishes that major platforms view AI agents as strategically essential rather than speculative capabilities. How Meta deploys Manus technology across its ecosystem in the months ahead will indicate whether the acquisition thesis focuses on talent, technology, or market positioning.