China Halts Meta's Acquisition of Manus, Meta Responds

On April 28, Chinese authorities announced the halt of U.S. tech giant Meta’s acquisition of the artificial intelligence startup Manus, requiring the parties involved to withdraw the acquisition deal. The National Development and Reform Commission of China stated on its official website on April 27 that the Office of the Foreign Investment Security Review Mechanism ‘legally and in accordance with regulations made a decision to prohibit investment in the foreign acquisition of the Manus project, requiring the parties to withdraw the acquisition transaction.’ On the same day, Meta issued a statement asserting that the deal complies with applicable laws and expressed hope that the issues raised by the Chinese side would be resolved appropriately, but did not provide further details. Meta announced the $2 billion acquisition of Manus at the end of December last year, and China confirmed its investigation into the matter in January of this year. (Dongxin News Agency)