Khaby Lame has sold his core company, Step Distinctive Limited, in a deal valued at $975 million. The company manages his global brand and commercial operations, according to a public SEC filing.
The buyer is Rich Sparkle, a publicly traded holding company based in Hong Kong. The transaction will be completed through the issuance of 75 million ordinary shares, making Lame a controlling shareholder in Rich Sparkle.
Step Distinctive Limited will continue to be led by Lame after the acquisition. Before the deal, he owned 49% of the company.
Rich Sparkle said Lame’s global fan base could generate more than $4 billion in annual sales through expanded commercial activity. The company plans to grow his brand across multiple international markets.
As part of the agreement, Lame approved the use of his face, voice, and behavioral data to create an AI-powered digital twin. The technology will be used for multilingual livestream e-commerce content across different time zones.
Livestream shopping is already a major industry in China and is growing rapidly in other markets, including the United States. Rich Sparkle sees the digital twin as a way to scale Lame’s presence without physical limits.
Lame is the most-followed creator on TikTok, with over 160 million followers and 2.6 billion total likes. His videos regularly attract hundreds of millions of views.
The 25-year-old creator was born in Senegal and raised in Italy. He rose to fame after losing his factory job during the COVID-19 pandemic and began posting on TikTok in 2020.
Lame has since become one of the world’s highest-earning digital creators, partnering with brands such as Hugo Boss, Airbnb, Binance, and major Hollywood studios.
