Tencent reportedly plans to buy back Manus from Meta for $2 billion, becoming the largest shareholder

Tencent leads a consortium with HSG, the True Fund, and Manus management, planning to buy back this AI startup from Meta at an implied valuation of about $2 billion.
(Background: China moves to block Meta’s acquisition of Manus; the $2 billion deal ends, and the Singapore export-model statement becomes invalid.)
(Additional context: With the technology already handed over and employees already gone, why does Manus want to buy back the company from Meta?)

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• Buy back at the original price; the valuation has doubled
• Five-fold in half a year—who’s paying the bill
• Not controlling, but aiming to take charge

Half a year ago, Meta bought an AI startup with roots in China for more than $2 billion. Now, the same batch of Chinese capital wants to buy it back at almost exactly the same price—except this time, the annualized revenue has already increased by four to five times.

The UK’s Financial Times disclosed that Tencent is leading the effort, alongside HSG (formerly Sequoia Capital China; renamed after a spin-off and now a venture fund), the True Fund, and Manus management, as they are in talks to buy back this AI agent company from Meta. After the deal closes, Tencent will become the largest shareholder, but its stake will not exceed 50%.

Buy back at the original price; the valuation has doubled

Roll time back to the end of December 2025. Meta then acquired Manus’ parent company, Butterfly Effect, for about $2 billion, shocking the market at the time.

Now the repurchase valuation Tencent—together with HSG and the True Fund—is discussing also lands at about $2 billion, nearly identical to the price Meta paid back then. On the surface, this looks like a “buy back at the original price” transaction; but once you lay out Manus’ revenue trajectory over the past six months, the story is clearly not that.

$2 billion vs $2 billion—the price hasn’t changed; but the company’s true value is already in a completely different tier.

Five-fold in half a year—who’s paying the bill

Before Manus was acquired by Meta, its annualized revenue was about $100 million. After Meta injected traffic and ad channels and integrated it for half a year, the figure surged to $400 million to $500 million—an increase of four to five times.

In other words, this time Chinese capital is using the price from half a year ago to buy back a company whose value had already multiplied several times after half a year.

This accounting may not seem worthwhile for Meta, but the real driving force behind it is not business logic—it’s that in April 2026, China used national security as the rationale to require Meta to unwind the acquisition through the foreign investment security review mechanism.

Foreign investment security review, in simple terms, is the government’s review of whether an acquisition by foreign capital poses a threat to national security. The key controversy is that Manus has roots in Chinese technology, yet is fully controlled by a U.S. company—something that, under the geopolitical climate in 2026, is no longer just a business issue.

Not controlling, but aiming to take charge

Interestingly, Tencent is choosing a stake of less than 50% this time. This is not a lack of money, but an intentionally designed structure: Tencent wants to secure the position of largest shareholder, ensure the technology and assets stay in “its people’s” hands, and yet not truly fold Manus into Tencent’s system—so it can continue operating as an independent company.

In the choice between controlling and non-controlling ownership, Tencent picks a more precision-engineered route: using the status of the largest shareholder to gain the power of speech, without taking on all the risks that come with a full acquisition and merger.

This arrangement also paves the next step for Manus. It’s rumored that Manus is considering restructuring the company—setting up a China-registered China–foreign joint venture—to pave the way for a future Hong Kong listing. From being acquired by U.S. capital, to being bought back by Chinese capital, and then to preparing for a Hong Kong IPO, Manus’ path over this year is almost a miniaturized AI geopolitical textbook: compute power determines the power structure, models determine applications, and the flow of capital ultimately has to yield to sovereignty.