Messaging to Orchestration: The Real 'Intent' Behind Meta’s $2 Billion Manus Deal
In the Agentic Era, winning at the orchestration layer is crucial. The acquisition of the Singapore startup reveals where Meta sees its vulnerability and opportunity.
Happy Holidays and a warm welcome to 2026!
As we step into the new year, the “AI Trade” is entering a phase of maturation. We are moving past the era of infrastructure speculation, where the focus was primarily on who owns the chips and the models, into a period defined by value capture resulting from the AI build-out. The defining question of 2026 is no longer only about which model is smartest, but rather: Who captures what this infrastructure enables, and how is that value defended? I called this Orchestration Economics.
To navigate this shift, I am excited to introduce a new short-form feature for paid subscribers titled “Orchestration Economics.” I’m offering this one as a special preview. These pieces will be published between our deeper weekly publications, providing tactical analysis on the AI trade.
As always, I welcome your feedback as we build this framework together. Our first entry into this series examines Meta’s latest $2 billion move, a tra…