Tech, Media & Telecom Roundup

The latest Market Talks covering Technology, Media and Telecom. Published exclusively on Dow Jones Newswires at 4:20 ET, 12:20 ET and 16:50 ET.

1256 ET – Meta’s acquisition of artificial-intelligence startup Manus for upward of $2 billion may help the company monetize its own AI efforts, BMO analyst Brian Pitz writes in a note. Manus already has a customer base and managed to scale its annual recurring revenue to $100 million in just eight months. “We believe the acquisition of Manus can help accelerate the development of the biggest hole in Meta’s AI story, its AI productization and monetization,” Pitz writes. He also sees the acquisition as incrementally positive for Meta’s AI capital expenditures, which until now lacked a clear return on investment compared to the company’s peers.(elias.schisgall@wsj.com)