Manus founder plans to raise $1 billion to withdraw Meta acquisition and seek listing in Hong Kong According to Beating Monitoring, Bloomberg reported that the three founders of AI startup Manus, Xiao Hong, Ji Yichao, and Zhang Tao, are discussing a buyback plan to raise approximately $1 billion from external investors in response to regulatory requirements to withdraw Meta's acquisition of Manus. According to insiders, the above-mentioned repurchase valuation will at least match the $2 billion paid by Meta during the acquisition. In addition to the planned introduction of $1 billion in external funding, the founder may also pay the remaining balance out of their own pocket. If the negotiations are successful, Manus will establish joint ventures with these investors in China and seek to list in Hong Kong. In April of this year, Meta's acquisition of Manus was required by regulators to be revoked. The regulatory authorities have made it clear that they will make every effort to prevent sensitive technology from flowing to American companies. Previously, the regulatory authorities had taken a similar tough stance, prohibiting local technology giants such as ByteDance and the Dark Side of the Moon from accepting US capital without approval. Due to the fact that most of the transactions have already been completed, it is extremely difficult to completely reverse the transactions in actual operation. Manus employees have currently joined Meta's office in Singapore, and their technology has been deeply integrated with Meta's system. Early investors such as Tencent, Sequoia China, and ZhenFund have also received exit funds. At present, the relevant repurchase and split plans are still in the preliminary exploration stage, and the valuation and terms may change at any time. The three founders may ultimately choose to give up. [Original link]