Khaby Lame has never needed words to make a point and now, his influence has spoken in figures nearly a billion dollars strong.
The Senegalese-Italian creator, best known for his deadpan, wordless TikTok videos that poke fun at overly complicated “life hacks,” has taken a seismic step in the creator economy by selling his media company Step Distinctive Limited in a deal valued at $975 million.
This isn’t your typical influencer brand deal. In an all-stock transaction with Hong Kong-based Rich Sparkle Holdings, Lame has given the company exclusive global commercial rights to his brand, TikTok Shop, livestream operations, short-form video production, and even an AI “digital twin” based on his likeness, voice, and behavioral patterns.
The AI avatar piece is particularly forward-thinking: it allows Lame’s persona to generate multilingual content and engage audiences around the globe in ways that go far beyond a traditional social media presence. For someone whose content is famous for conveying universal humor without saying a word, this digital extension feels almost poetically fitting and potentially massively lucrative.
Lame’s rise is the stuff of digital-era folklore. Starting in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, after being laid off from his factory machine operator job in Italy, Lame began posting simple reaction videos on TikTok. His silent, expressive style resonated worldwide, helping him amass more than 160 million followers, making him the most-followed creator on the platform.
Lame’s fan base isn’t confined to one region or language. His mute, universal gestures and reactions cut across cultural barriers and made him a global figure almost overnight. That international appeal is exactly what Rich Sparkle is betting on as it expands into e-commerce, brand licensing, and digital commerce driven by content creators.
According to public filings, Rich Sparkle believes this new commercial model could generate more than $4 billion in annual sales once all elements, including the AI twin, are fully operational.
This deal marks one of the largest business transactions ever completed by an individual creator. Unlike typical influencer partnerships that are limited in scope and duration, Lame’s transaction effectively turns his digital persona and intellectual property into a scalable enterprise with global reach.
Instead of just selling endorsement posts or licensing his image for ads, Lame has enabled a model where his brand itself and even a virtual version of him can live and interact in the digital economy across languages, platforms, and product categories.
Industry observers say it highlights a tipping point in how digital fame can be commercialized: the biggest creators are no longer just content producers, they are owners of enterprise-level media brands.
