TikTok star sells core company for nearly $1billion
A TikTok star known for keeping his lips sealed has reportedly sold his core company in a deal worth nearly $1billion.
Khaby Lame rose to fame on social media during the Covid-19 pandemic for reposting ‘life hacks’ on TikTok, before cutting to him doing the task an easier way while not saying a word.
Khaby’s sarcastic hand gestures and facial expressions quickly went viral and earned him millions of followers.
Khaby Lame rose to fame on social media during the Covid-19 pandemic. Pic: Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images
In 2021, the Senegalese-Italian influencer surpassed Addison Rae to become the second most-followed personality on TikTok, with over 90 million followers.
The following January, Khaby signed a multi-year partnership with Hugo Boss and was featured in the brand’s ‘BeYourOwnBoss’ campaign.
Over the summer of 2022, he then overtook Charli D’Amelio as TikTok’s most-followed star, with 142.1million followers.
Khaby’s sarcastic hand gestures and facial expressions went viral on social media. Pic: Daniele Venturelli/Getty Images
At the time, Khaby was reportedly earning around $750,000 (€627,000) per TikTok post.
Last year, he was named on the inaugural TIME100 Creators list, which recognised 100 of the most influential digital creators from around the world.
Now, Forbes has reported that Khaby has sold his core company, Step Distinctive Limited, in a deal worth $975million (€815million).
The 25-year-old’s company manages his global brand and commercial activities. Pic: Mark Sutton – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images
The 25-year-old’s company manages his global brand and commercial activities, though it will now be owned by Rich Sparkle, a publicly traded holding company based in Hong Kong.
Khaby will be a ‘controlling shareholder’, according to a public SEC filing, and he will continue to ‘lead’ the company.
According to a press release by Rich Sparkle Holdings, the influencer’s fan-based commercialisation could generate more than $4billion in annual sales.
Khaby will continue to ‘lead’ the company. Pic: Bruno de Carvalho/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
The use of Khaby’s ‘Face ID, Voice ID, and behavioural models for AI Digital Twin development’ has been authorised as part of the deal.
It will be used for the creation of multilingual, cross-time-zone livestream e-commerce content, which generates huge income in China.
In 2024, live commerce in the country generated over $40billion in sales and the market is expected to grow at an annual rate of 37.4%.
If it continued at this rate, live commerce in China would generate $672billion by 2033. The phenomenon is essentially the fusion of live video streaming and instant online shopping.
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