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.

Meta's acquisition of Manus could reach several billion US dollars, making it the company's third-largest acquisition to date, surpassed only by WhatsApp and Scale AI. Before this acquisition, Manus was in the midst of securing new financing at a valuation of 20 billion US dollars.

Mark Mahaney, head of internet research at Evercore ISI, joins CNBC’s ‘The Exchange’ to discuss what Meta’s acquisition of intelligent-agent firm Manus reveals about the tech giant’s AI strategy, and more.

Meta said that Manus’s team will join the company to help develop general-purpose AI agents across Meta’s products.

Meta's acquisition of AI agent Manus spotlights potential automation across various roles, from analysts to virtual assistants.

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