What’s the most followed TikToker worth?
A company tied to most followed TikToker Khaby Lame has been purchased for $975 million, and on paper, the Senegalese-Italian influencer’s position is worth way more than that. On paper.
Rich Sparkle Holdings, whose website bills it as a Hong Kong-based financial printing and corporate services provider, enjoyed a wild ride on Monday after saying that it had completed an acquisition of a company tied to the most followed TikToker on the planet.
Serigne Khabane Lame, aka @khaby.lame, boasts over 160 million followers on the short-form video site and 360 million across all social media platforms. The Senegalese-Italian influencer blew up on TikTok during 2021 for his faux incredulous reactions to so-called “life hacks.” His brand partnerships have included Boss and Binance.
On January 9, Rich Sparkle Holdings announced plans to acquire a controlling interest in Step Distinctive Limited (which Lame holds a 49% stake in) for between $900 million and $975 million in an all-stock deal through the issuance of 75 million shares. The stock surged more than 250% in response to the news on Friday, and was up as much as 60% in premarket trading on Monday before reversing into the red.
Khaby Lame is clearly a winner in the attention economy, and one that Rich Sparkle Holdings hopes to monetize more aggressively, with the help of AI. But his TikTok follower count doesn’t scream “growth asset.”
On paper — and we stress on paper — the value of Lame’s position in Rich Sparkle Holdings is worth north of $3 billion. But his roughly 36.75 million shares in the company is more volume than its stock has traded in its entire history to date.
And as long as we’re throwing around big numbers, the company thinks that this partnership can generate $4 billion in sales per year by monetizing. (The formula? “Traffic + operations + fulfillment + technology,” according to the press release.)
Now, the development of an AI digital twin that utilizes Lame’s face, voice, and behaviors would seem like it provides significant force multiplication for his content... if not for the fact that Lame is famous for rarely speaking in his TikTok videos. Of course, leveraging his little-heard voice as an AI telemarketer may prove a valuable new front in generating sales around the clock.
@khaby.lame #duetto con @foodies you are a genius#learnfromkhaby #learnontiktok #imparacontiktok
♬ TWINNEM - Coi Leray
“The move signals a shift from one-off brand deals to a structured, exclusive, full-chain, platform-style commercialization system — designed not merely to monetize attention, but to industrialize it,” per Sunday’s press release. “Under the agreement, Khaby Lame’s global commercialization will be executed through a single operating system. During the 36-month cooperation period, Anhui Xiaoheiyang Network Technology Co., Ltd. (a China-based livestream and content-commerce operator) will hold exclusive global full-chain operating rights.”
For some context:
$4 billion would be more revenues than 52 S&P 500 companies, including Palantir and Match Group, have made in the past four quarters.
The entire US TikTok operation is being acquired for roughly $14 billion, and that division reportedly makes between $10 billion and $20 billion per year.
MrBeast makes between $600 million and $700 million per year, CNBC estimated as of year-end 2024.
Khaby Lame hasn’t publicly acknowledged this tie-up yet, so here’s to hoping this isn’t some elaborate hoax.
