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December 30, 2025, 8:20 AM
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memeorandum
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| Wall Street Journal: |
Sources: Meta is buying Manus for $2B+, after approaching the startup during a fundraising at a $2B valuation; Manus CEO Xiao Hong will report to Javier Olivan — The deal for more than $2 billion is one of the first in which a major U.S. tech company has bought a startup with Chinese roots| Bloomberg: |
Meta agrees to acquire Singapore-based startup Manus, which makes an AI agent for SMBs; Manus said earlier in December its annual revenue run rate was $125M+ — Meta Platforms Inc. has agreed to acquire Singapore-based startup Manus, adding a popular artificial intelligence agent to its effort …
More: Reuters, Nikkei Asia, Spyglass, Hong Kong Free Press HKFP, Unite.AI, The Business Times, Yahoo Finance, The Decoder, Ghacks, Moneycontrol, Implicator.ai, DigiTimes, Financial Times, Nairametrics, Business Insider, The Register, Tech in Asia, SiliconANGLE, Benzinga, The Information, TestingCatalog, and MarketWatch
X: @red_xiao_, @signulll, @levie, @alexandr_wang, @chasing_next, @natfriedman, @nathanclark_, @paularambles, @itsurboyevan, @chongz, @simonbalmain, @omarwasm, @benscharfstein, @brianzhan1, @emostaque, @john_bailey, @mattturck, @alexandr_wang, @gregisenberg, @turnernovak, @chrisrmcguire, @scobleizer, @gerstenzang, @deryatr_, @iamaaronyang, @sarahtavel, @rakyll, @officiallogank, @hhua_, @luke_metro, @joshconstine, @ozenhati, @manusai, @hidecloud, @danielnewmanuv, @peakji, @parker_lyman, @deedydas, @alexandr_wang, @andrewcurran_, @peterfenton, @sainingxie, @iruletheworldmo, @toddsaunders, @benitoz, and @chetanp
LinkedIn: Tim Roper and Mukund Mohan
Forums: Hacker News, r/LocalLLaMA, and r/singularity
| Meta: |
Meta says it will continue to operate and sell the Manus service, and Manus' talent will join Meta to deliver agents across Meta products, including Meta AI — We are excited to announce that Manus is joining Meta to bring a leading agent to billions of people and unlock opportunities for businesses across our products.
More: Manus, Constellation Research, CNBC, International Business Times, Digital Trends, Tech in Asia, and Neowin. Bluesky: @caseynewton
| Nikkei Asia: |
Meta says Manus, initially based in Beijing and Wuhan, will cut Chinese investor ties after the deal and “will discontinue its services and operations in China” — PALO ALTO, California/HONG KONG — Meta says it will acquire AI startup Manus and that the Singapore-based company … | Bloomberg: |
Sources: Chinese AI startup MiniMax is seeking to raise $600M+ from its Hong Kong IPO, set for January 2026, and has secured Alibaba and the ADIA as backers — Chinese artificial intelligence startup MiniMax has secured Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority as key backers … | Bloomberg: |
AI drug discovery startup Insilico rose 45% in its Hong Kong trading debut after raising $293M in an IPO; Insilico reported $85M+ in 2024 revenue — Insilico Medicine Cayman TopCo shares rose on their trading debut in Hong Kong after raising $293 million in an initial public offering.
More: Forbes, South China Morning Post, Tech in Asia, and Financial Post
| Youkyung Lee / Bloomberg: |
Samsung, up 125%, and SK Hynix, up 268%, accounted for nearly half of the 76% gain in South Korea's Kospi, the world's best-performing major stock index in 2025 — South Korea's stock market renaissance in 2025 was one for the history books. Buoyed by world-beating gains in arms exporters … | Vikki Blake / Eurogamer.net: |
Michał Kiciński, co-founder of CD Projekt and DRM-free digital games store GOG, acquires 100% ownership of GOG from CD Projekt and signs a distribution deal — A-GOG. — Michał Kiciński, co-founder of CD Projekt, has acquired 100 percent ownership of GOG, the DRM-free digital games store.
More: GOG.COM, CD PROJEKT, Tom's Hardware, XboxEra, Kotaku, HotHardware, Wccftech, Game Informer, Game World Observer, Bleeding Cool News, XDA Developers, Gizmodo, Thurrott, VideoCardz.com, How-To Geek, IGN, Screen Rant, Game Developer, Neowin, The Verge, Engadget, GamesBeat, TechRaptor, Video Games Chronicle, Notebookcheck, and Blue's News
X: @ohnoitsalexx, @smashjt, @cdprojektred, @michalnowakow, @cdprojektred_ir, and @gogcom. LinkedIn: Maciej Gołębiewski
Forums: Hacker News, r/gamingnews, r/linux_gaming, r/GameDealsMeta, r/pcmasterrace, r/TwoBestFriendsPlay, r/gaming, r/pcgaming, and Slashdot
| Financial Times: |
UK-based Octopus Energy reaches a deal to sell about $1B of equity in Kraken Technologies, its tech spin-off, at an $8.65B valuation to a syndicate of investors — Investors including D1 Capital Partners, Fidelity and Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan to purchase $1bn in equity
More: Sifted, CNBC, The Guardian, Blockchain.News, Energy Connects, Bloomberg, The Standard, Yahoo Finance, Wall Street Journal, Kraken, The Independent, SiliconANGLE, iTnews, Australian Financial Review, Financial Post, Telegraph, Capital Brief, Reuters, Reuters, Sky News, and BelfastTelegraph.co.uk
X: @kevindstevens, @mliebreich, and @markkleinmansky
| Reuters: |
Sources: China is requiring chipmakers to use at least 50% domestically made equipment for adding new capacity, in a rule that is not publicly documented — China is requiring chipmakers to use at least 50% domestically made equipment for adding new capacity, three people familiar with the matter said … | Natallie Rocha / New York Times: |
Sources, PitchBook data, and news reports: the founders of Perplexity, Figure AI, Safe Superintelligence, Harvey, and others joined the nine-figure club in 2025 — Just like past tech booms, the latest frenzy has produced a group of billionaires — at least on paper — from smaller start-ups.
More: The Straits Times
| Rafe Rosner-Uddin / Financial Times: |
Sources: Satya Nadella is focused on the increasing AI competition from Amazon and Google; Microsoft Deputy CTO Dee Templeton says Nadella is in “founder mode” — Software giant faces intense competition from Alphabet, Amazon and start-ups — Satya Nadella has overhauled …
More: Digit, The Economic Times, Seattle Business Journal, and MediaPost
| Bloomberg: |
Fast delivery apps like Blinkit, Zepto, and Swiggy are expanding into India's Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, driven by rising incomes and cheap smartphones and data — Cheap data, new logistics and mobile-first platforms are expanding consumption far beyond India's urban elite.| Hyunjoo Jin / Reuters: |
Sources: the US has granted an annual license to Samsung and SK Hynix to ship their chip manufacturing equipment to their facilities in China for 2026 — The U.S. government has granted an annual licence to Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) and SK Hynix (000660.KS) to bring in chip manufacturing equipment …
More: eeNews Europe, Korea Joongang Daily, DigiTimes, Foreign Affairs, Tech in Asia, SammyGuru, SamMobile, and Reuters
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