China-born AI agent developer Manus said on September 1 that it has completed its separation from Meta Platforms and formally resumed independent operations, with founding members again leading the company. Meta’s roughly $2 billion acquisition, announced in December 2025, was reversed after China’s National Development and Reform Commission banned the deal in April 2026 and required the parties to unwind it amid heightened U.S.-China technology tensions. Founders Xiao Hong, Zhang Tao and Ji Yichao will run Manus as an independent AI agent research lab building general-purpose products for users worldwide, with a next phase focused on deeper workflow integration, broader interaction with external environments and more proactive task delegation subject to user approval. Chinese firms including Tencent Holdings moved to buy back shares, while data migration tied to the split led to deletion of some user data created after Meta’s December 29, 2025 closing, a step Manus said was not a security incident. The case has drawn scrutiny of cross-border structuring and so-called Singapore-washing as China-born AI startups balance overseas expansion with domestic regulation; Manus has not disclosed post-restructuring ownership, fundraising or intellectual-property arrangements with Meta.