Chinese authorities have barred two Manus co-founders from leaving the country, the Financial Times reported , heightening scrutiny over Meta Platforms Inc. ’s 2025 acquisition of the fast-rising agentic AI startup for $2 billion. Xiao Hong and Ji Yichao were summoned this month to a meeting in Beijing with the National Development and Reform Commission, the country’s powerful economic planner, th...
Chinese authorities have barred two Manus co-founders from leaving the country, the Financial Times reported , heightening scrutiny over Meta Platforms Inc. ’s 2025 acquisition of the fast-rising agentic AI startup for $2 billion. Xiao Hong and Ji Yichao were summoned this month to a meeting in Beijing with the National Development and Reform Commission, the country’s powerful economic planner, the FT said, citing three people with knowledge of the matter. The pair, who are based in Singapore, were questioned about potential violations of foreign direct investment rules and then told they couldn’t leave China, the FT reported. Beijing has since January been investigating whether Meta’s takeover violated regulations, with potential national security implications. That review remains in its early stages and regulators might ultimately choose not to intervene. No charges have been brought and Manus is seeking legal help to resolve the matter, the FT said, citing a person with knowledge of the move. One extreme outcome would be to unwind the transaction, the newspaper said. A representative of Manus didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment. The case highlights Beijing’s broader concerns about the loss of technology to US buyers, particularly in strategic sectors such as AI. Read More: China Reviews Meta’s $2 Billion Deal to Buy AI Startup Manus Manus was founded in 2022 but quickly shifted its core team and headquarters to Singapore, a relocation that coincided with a financing round led by prominent Silicon Valley venture capital firm Benchmark Capital. That investment drew questions from US lawmakers. Meta announced the acquisition last December, touting Manus as a boost to its efforts with AI agents: autonomous systems that can carry out multi-step tasks without a human’s constant direction.
MarianVejcik/iStock via Getty Images The flash Eurozone PMI is ringing stagflation alarm bells as the war in the Middle East drives prices sharply higher while stifling growth. Record cost surge March’s flash PMI survey data from S&P Global showed firms’ costs rising across the eurozone at the fastest rate for over three years amid the surge in energy prices and choking of supply chains resulting ...
MarianVejcik/iStock via Getty Images The flash Eurozone PMI is ringing stagflation alarm bells as the war in the Middle East drives prices sharply higher while stifling growth. Record cost surge March’s flash PMI survey data from S&P Global showed firms’ costs rising across the eurozone at the fastest rate for over three years amid the surge in energy prices and choking of supply chains resulting from the war in the Middle East. Input prices increased at the fastest pace since February 2023, the rate of inflation accelerating to one of the greatest extents since data were first available in the late 1990s. The 10.6 point jump in the eurozone manufacturing input cost index was the largest on record, while the 5.2 point jump in the services input cost index was the largest on record, barring only the surge in costs seen in March 2022 during the pandemic. Supply Shock Supplier delays have meanwhile intensified to their highest since mid-2022, largely linked to shipping issues relating to the crisis in the Middle East. Although the delays are far less widespread than seen during the height of the pandemic, the supply chain disturbances have applied upward pressure to prices, which will only intensify further should the supply shock prove long-lasting, as will any adverse impact on production capacity arising from input shortages. The feed-through of higher costs to selling prices has been muted so far, according to the flash PMI for March, though the survey’s selling price gauge has nonetheless already risen to its highest since February 2024 and at a level indicative of consumer price inflation accelerating close to 3%. Growth close to stalling Output growth has meanwhile slowed to near-stagnation thanks to a slump in business confidence and deterioration of new orders. Falling to a ten-month low of 50.5 in March, down from 51.9 in February, the PMI’s composite output index has fallen to a level indicative of eurozone GDP growth slowing to a quarterly rate of just unde...
Workers check vehicle frames on the production line for electric vehicle maker Zeekr at its factory on May 29, 2025 in Ningbo, China. Kevin Frayer | Getty Images News | Getty Images The fallout from the Iran war is likely to expedite the shift away from fossil fuels and make countries think differently about the role renewables can play in shoring up energy security, analysts told CNBC. The Middle...
Workers check vehicle frames on the production line for electric vehicle maker Zeekr at its factory on May 29, 2025 in Ningbo, China. Kevin Frayer | Getty Images News | Getty Images The fallout from the Iran war is likely to expedite the shift away from fossil fuels and make countries think differently about the role renewables can play in shoring up energy security, analysts told CNBC. The Middle East crisis has severely disrupted oil exports through the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz, which typically carries about a fifth of the world's oil and liquified natural gas (LNG) and represents a key choke point for fertilizer trade . It has shone a light on the extent to which the world remains deeply reliant on fragile fossil fuel trade routes, while surging oil and gas prices have rattled energy markets and triggered widespread inflation fears . Asia's reliance on imported energy means it now sits at the forefront of the global fossil fuel crisis , but supply disruptions are also hitting hard in Europe and Africa, where countries are responding to rising fuel costs and a considerable threat to food security. The head of the International Energy Agency said the energy transition was moving "very strongly" before the Iran war began — but the fallout from the resulting energy shock means countries will likely direct even more investment toward clean energy sources. Ten years ago, solar was a romantic story — but now solar is a business. Fatih Birol IEA Executive Director "I expect one of the responses to this crisis will be [an] acceleration of renewables. Not only because they are helping to reduce the emissions but also, they are [a] homegrown domestic energy source," IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said at the National Press Club in Australia's capital on Monday. Clean energy sources dominated new power installations last year, for example, with renewables accounting for 85% of all new global power capacity, Birol said, citing solar as a primary driver of this...
Veronique D/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Introduction I believe that Pfizer ( PFE ) is one of the companies that I’ve covered the most here on Seeking Alpha , as I believe that it has some of the best value around the market. Since my last analysis, the company has remained fairly stable, which is overall good considering what has been happening around the globe, and with the latest developme...
Veronique D/iStock Editorial via Getty Images Introduction I believe that Pfizer ( PFE ) is one of the companies that I’ve covered the most here on Seeking Alpha , as I believe that it has some of the best value around the market. Since my last analysis, the company has remained fairly stable, which is overall good considering what has been happening around the globe, and with the latest developments, I will dive into why I believe the company is still a great bargain. Current Dynamics I’ll first start with the recent regulatory and clinical wins, mainly in Oncology, which I believe will be one of the best opportunities for Pfizer following its acquisition of Seagen. BRAFTOVI received its full approval for the first-line treatment of adult patients with BRAF V600E-mutant metastatic colorectal cancer in late February. BRAFTOVI is currently the only approved drug for this particular case. The BRAFTOVI regimen showed a 51% reduction in the risk of death and an impressive doubling of median overall survival to 30.3 months. It is important to understand this market, as the BRAF V600E mutation happens in around 10% of metastatic colorectal cancer patients, so this is rather niche, but the ensuing pricing will be substantial as it is set to become the clear standard. Later on, Pfizer announced a positive topline result from the Phase 2 FOURLIGHT-1 study , which evaluated atirmociclib, PFE’s next-generation CDK4 inhibitor. The trial revealed a 40% reduction in the risk of disease progression or death for second-line metastatic breast cancer. PFE is now focused on the ongoing Phase 3 trial for the drug in the first-line setting. It is important to grasp that over 90% of patients had progressed on a prior CDK4/6 inhibitor within the previous three months, and this second-line setting is known to be hard to treat. Meaning that atirmociclib could offer an advantage over switching to another CDK4/6 inhibitor like Verzenio or Kisqali. Furthermore, atirmociclib’s Phase 3 in the fi...
Alibaba Group Holding (NYSE:BABA) has introduced the XuanTie C950 RISC-V AI chip, developed by its Damo Academy. The new processor is built for AI inference and cloud workloads and is positioned to compete with chips from Nvidia, Huawei, Arm, and Intel. The XuanTie C950 is linked to Alibaba’s T-Head unit, which is preparing for mass production and is being discussed as a potential separate listing...
Alibaba Group Holding (NYSE:BABA) has introduced the XuanTie C950 RISC-V AI chip, developed by its Damo Academy. The new processor is built for AI inference and cloud workloads and is positioned to compete with chips from Nvidia, Huawei, Arm, and Intel. The XuanTie C950 is linked to Alibaba’s T-Head unit, which is preparing for mass production and is being discussed as a potential separate listing. Alibaba Group Holding, trading at $125.48, is adding a new angle to its AI story with...