Chinese authorities blocked Meta's acquisition of AI company Manus for about $2 billion and imposed exit bans on two of Manus's founders, seen as a case of China's extraterritorial regulations being enforced in practice.
On August 11, 2026, Bloomberg reported that Manus, an AI startup founded by a Chinese team, announced it has officially separated from Meta and resumed independent operations, after Chinese regulators stepped in to halt Meta's acquisition of the company.
Master Kong reported instant noodle business revenue of over 13.7 billion yuan, up 2% year on year; Uni-President reported food business revenue of over 5.6 billion yuan, up 4.7% year on year.
In late July 2026, four tech giants released their Q2 earnings reports, with combined cash capital expenditures of $165.05 billion, up 827% year-on-year, accounting for 96% of the $171.7 billion in operating cash flow over the same period; among them, the comparable free cash flow of Alphabet and Amazon was negative.
On June 5, Meta launched a multi-billion-dollar equity offering, intensifying the liquidity drainage effect on the market.
China's National Development and Reform Commission's Foreign Investment Security Review Office, in accordance with regulations, banned foreign investment in AI startup Manus, requiring the relevant parties to withdraw the acquisition deal.
Meta has locked down a nuclear power portfolio with a scale cap of 6.6 gigawatts, covering power purchase agreements with operating nuclear plants and forward orders for small modular reactors.
Meta defined 2023 as the year of efficiency, with revenue growing 16%, operating margin rebounding from 25% to 35%, free cash flow recovering to $43 billion, and stock price returning to $353.
Meta's ad unit price fell by 16%, capital expenditure rose due to Metaverse investment, and free cash flow dropped from $38.4 billion to $18.4 billion, with the stock price falling to approximately $120.
Meta repurchased 160 million shares for approximately $28 billion, but the buyback failed to offset the impact of declining cash flow and rising discount rates on intrinsic value.
Meta's fundamentals remained strong in 2021, and it conducted $44.8 billion in stock buybacks; the video states that buybacks provide buyer depth but do not guarantee that prices will not be repriced.