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Dec 30, 2025
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Supported by
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Happy Tuesday! Meta Platforms acquires the startup behind the Manus AI agent. SoftBank will buy data center investment firm DigitalBridge. Nvidia completes its $5 billion investment in Intel.
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Meta Platform is acquiring Manus, an artificial intelligence agent that went viral earlier this year and got financial backing from Benchmark, in the U.S. tech giant’s latest move to expand its AI offerings. The deal will give Manus, operated by a Singapore-based startup called Butterfly Effect, access to Meta’s massive user base that includes millions of businesses and billions of people. “Joining Meta allows us to build on a stronger, more sustainable foundation without changing how Manus works or how decisions are made,” said Xiao Hong, CEO of Manus, in a statement. The deal comes at a time when Manus, like most other AI startups, hasn’t figured out how to build a profitable business on its own. Earlier this month, Manus said that its annual run rate has just reached $125 million, up from $90 million in
August. Launched in March, Manus uses AI foundation models from Anthropic and others to power its agent. It was one of the pioneers among startups that launched general-purpose AI agents earlier this year. The company now has 105 employees in Singapore, Tokyo and San Francisco, and plans to open a Paris office soon, the spokesperson said. The deal is a big win for venture capital firms backing Manus. Butterfly Effect, founded by a group of tech entrepreneurs from China, raised $75 million in April in a funding round led by Benchmark at a valuation of $500 million, The Information reported previously. Its other backers include Chinese venture capital firms ZhenFund and HongShan, as well as Chinese tech giant Tencent.
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SoftBank said Monday it would buy data center investment firm DigitalBridge for $4 billion, or $16 per share, a 15% premium to Friday’s closing price, its latest step to increase investment in infrastructure for data centers. DigitalBridge owns several data center subsidiaries that are involved in large data center developments globally, including an OpenAI and Oracle “Stargate” project in Wisconsin. SoftBank said Monday’s DigitalBridge deal would boost its “ability to build, scale, and finance the foundational infrastructure needed for next-generation AI services and applications.” Boca Raton, Fla.-based DigitalBridge will continue to operate separately once the deal closes, which is expected in the second half of 2026, SoftBank said in a press release. DigitalBridge CEO Marc Ganzi will continue to lead the unit.
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Nvidia completed its $5 billion investment in Intel, according to an Intel securities filing. As previously disclosed, Nvidia bought 214.8 million shares in Intel at $23.28 apiece. The AI chip giant and Intel announced the investment in mid-September, as part of a joint effort to develop “custom data center and PC products.” It followed a $8.9 billion investment by the U.S. government and a $2 billion investment by SoftBank, all part of a push to help get the once-iconic U.S. chipmaker back on its feet after a long decline. Nvidia has already made a good profit on its investment, which was completed on Dec. 26. Intel stock has risen 50% in recent weeks and closed up 1.3% at $36.68, translating to a profit of $2.9 billion.
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A crypto company that struck a partnership with the Trump family’s World Liberty Financial has fired an audit firm it hired weeks earlier whose license was reported to have expired in August. Crypto processor Alt5 Sigma was a largely-unknown Nasdaq-listed company until August. Then it struck a $1.5 billion deal with World Liberty, a crypto company co-founded by the President’s two eldest sons, to use Alt5 as a vehicle to buy and store World Liberty’s crypto token, $WLFI. Shares in Alt5 have tumbled more than 80% since the deal. Two
CEOs have departed Alt5 amid legal and regulatory problems, including the disclosure of a conviction for alleged money laundering in Rwanda, The Information previously reported. Several other senior executives have quit or have been fired. Alt5 in early December appointed Victor Mokuolo CPA PLLC as the company’s new independent auditor, following the resignation of the company’s previous auditor. Texas state filings show the license of the new audit firm expired in August, meaning the firm is currently barred from doing audit work, the Financial Times reported on Monday. In a securities filing on Monday, Alt5 Sigma said it had “dismissed” the auditor on Christmas Day. Alt5 Sigma said it appointed L J Soldinger Associates, LLC its new auditor. Alt5 Sigma earlier told the Financial Times that Victor Mokuolo CPA PLLC was undergoing a peer review under the Texas State Board of Accountancy regulations, which was due to be completed in January 2026. The audit firm received a failing grade under the peer review process in 2023, and has received fines from the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board for reporting failures in 2023 and 2024.
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