Meta's Acquisition Raises Questions on AI Spending

21 days ago

Bloomberg Markets reporter Valerie Titel

"Interesting acquisition from Meta. Now I have to note it's not having much reaction on the share price, but that's kind of interesting in itself. We have seen these recent AI acquisitions really lead to uh more excitement about stocks this year. It seems like maybe perhaps the market is now starting to doubt whether the spending is worth it. Meta has announced uh it will acquire a startup called Manis for $2 billion in a bet on AI agents. We're seeing shares of Meta just down 210 of 1%. They are underperforming the Mag 7. So again, maybe this is just another signal uh that the market wants in some way these tech companies to start justifying this gargantuan AI spending. But the really interesting thing about this, John, is that Manis is essentially a Chinese tech company. It was hailed as the next Deep Seek. It's really interesting to see a US tech company acquire a company with Chinese roots and whether that becomes a flash point in US China relations."

The commentary discusses Meta's $2 billion acquisition of the startup Manis as a strategic move in the AI space, while noting that the market reaction has been muted. The analysis raises concerns over whether the heavy spending on AI can be justified and hints at potential geopolitical ramifications given Manis' Chinese origins.

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