Tencent and original Manus investors plan to buy back Singapore-headquartered startup from Meta, sources say

Chinese gaming and internet company Tencent, together with artificial intelligence (AI) firm Manus’ original investors, including ZhenFund and HSG, are planning to buy back the Singapore-headquartered startup from Meta for no less than US$2 billion (S$2.59 billion), sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday.

Tencent is said to become Manus’ largest shareholder in the deal, a development first reported by The Financial Times.

Tencent and Meta have not commented on the matter.

Manus moved its headquarters from China to Singapore in July last year to permit access to key resources like Nvidia’s chips, which have been facing more restrictions in China due to U.S. export controls.

In December, Meta announced it had acquired the startup for more than US$2 billion (S$2.56 billion). The move was said to “bring a leading agent to billions of people and unlock opportunities for businesses across our products.”

However, in January, Chinese officials reportedly started reviewing Meta’s acquisition of the startup for possible technology export control violations. In April, Reuters reported that China ordered Meta to unwind its acquisition of Manus. /TISG

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