China Prepares to Lift the Exit Ban on the Founders of Manus After Blocking Meta's Purchase

Chinese authorities are preparing to lift the travel restriction on the founders of Manus, the agentic artificial intelligence company, and chief executive Xiao Hong plans to return to Singapore as the separation from Meta Platforms approaches resolution, the Financial Times reported.

The sequence began when Meta announced in December 2025 that it would buy Manus, which had moved its headquarters from China to Singapore around mid-2025, as Al Jazeera reported at the time. In March, the National Development and Reform Commission summoned Xiao Hong and co-founder Ji Yichao to Beijing, questioned them over foreign direct investment rules and told them they could not leave the country. On 27 April the commission blocked the acquisition and required the parties to withdraw the transaction.

The case established a principle with wide application. A company can relocate its legal domicile out of China, but Beijing still asserts authority over the disposal of technology and the movement of the people who built it. That reduces the value of the Singapore redomiciliation route that many Chinese technology founders have used since 2022.

Lifting the ban now, with the deal already dead, suggests Beijing believes it has already achieved its objective. The regulator obtained the outcome it wanted, and releasing the founders costs it nothing while restoring some predictability for foreign investors watching how Chinese technology assets can be sold.