📰 AI News: Meta Buys Manus, The Viral AI Agent Startup
📝 TL;DR Meta just bought Manus, the viral AI agent that has been quietly impressing Silicon Valley with jaw dropping demos and real revenue. This is Meta placing a huge bet on autonomous AI agents that actually get work done, not just chat. 🧠 Overview Meta is acquiring Manus, a Singapore based AI startup that exploded this year with a demo of an AI agent that screens job candidates, plans trips, and analyzes stock portfolios with very little prompting. The deal is reportedly worth around 2 billion dollars, after Manus raced from launch to millions of paying users and over 100 million dollars in annual recurring revenue. For everyday users and small businesses, this is a strong signal that AI agents that take actions for you are moving from niche tools into the mainstream apps you already use like WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook. 📜 The Announcement At the end of December 2025, Meta confirmed it is acquiring Manus, an AI startup that has become one of the most talked about agent tools of the year. Manus only launched in the spring, then quickly raised 75 million dollars, went viral with its demo video, and turned that attention into a subscription business with millions of users. Reports say Meta is paying roughly 2 billion dollars for the company, and plans to keep Manus running independently while weaving its agent technology into Meta AI across its social apps. In the background, regulators are already watching the deal because Manus was originally founded in China before moving its headquarters to Singapore. ⚙️ How It Works • From chatbot to agent - Manus is built as a general AI agent, you give it a goal like research these companies or build me a hiring funnel, and it plans and executes multiple steps instead of just replying with text. • Real tasks, not just answers - The demos showed Manus screening job candidates, planning vacations, and analyzing stock portfolios, connecting to tools and data to actually do the work rather than only suggesting what you could do.