Why Meta bought Manus — and what it signals for your enterprise AI agent strategy

Deep dive

Context

Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta’s agreement to acquire Manus for more than $2 billion — announced last night by both companies and reported in The Wall Street Journal — marks one of the clearest signals yet that large tech platforms are no longer just competing on model quality, but on who controls the execution layer of AI-powered work. Manus, a Singapore-based startup founded by Chinese entrepreneurs that debuted earlier this year, has built a general-purpose AI agent designed to autonomously carry out multi-step tasks such as research, analysis, coding, planning, and content generation. The company will continue operating from Singapore and selling its subscription product while its team and technology are integrated into Meta’s broader AI organization. Manus co-founder and CEO Xiao Hong, who goes by “Red,” is expected to report to Meta COO Javier Olivan. The deal arrives as Meta accelerates its AI investments to compete with Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI — and as the industry’s focus shifts from conversational demos to systems that can reliably produce artifacts, complete workflows, and operate with minimal supervision. Manus as an execution layer, not a chat…

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