Almost $1 billion for silence

Are you still laughing at bloggers? Then this story is not for laughter, but for a very sober reassessment of reality.

Six years ago, Khaby Lame lost his job at a factory. No impressive resume, no capital, no connections. Today, he is closing a deal fully denominated in equity that values his company and the associated rights at nearly $975 million. Not “potentially”, not “someday”, but here and now – by market logic.

In 2020, Khaby started with an extremely simple format: silent reactions to absurd internet “life hacks”. No words, no explanations. Just open palms, raised shoulders, and a look that conveys a universal message: “Are you serious?”.

That was the key. The content required no translation, subtitles, or cultural context. It worked the same way in Italy, Brazil, India, and Japan.

TikTok exploded. The algorithms did their job, but the format proved stronger than the platform itself. By 2022, Khaby became the most popular creator on TikTok worldwide. At the same time, he did not get stuck at the level of advertising integrations and one-off brand deals, as 90% of creators do.

He acted not like a blogger, but like a founder. Khaby consolidated all partnerships, licenses, and IP under his own company, Step Distinctive Limited. The content became just the tip of the iceberg. Beneath it were rights, brands, long-term contracts, control over his image, and a scalable business structure.

By 2025, his combined audience across platforms approached 360 million followers. And at that moment, Rich Sparkle entered the picture – a structure created to turn creators’ attention into full-fledged global brands. Not into “advertising”, but into an asset.

The wildest part of this story is not even the nearly billion-dollar valuation. Khaby signed an agreement to create his AI “digital twin”. The virtual version of Khaby can run live shopping streams around the clock, communicate with audiences in multiple languages, sell products, and scale influence without his physical presence.

The person sleeps – the asset works. This is no longer an influencer. This is a platform.

The takeaway for creators is extremely simple and harsh: own the company, not just the content. Content is a consumable. IP, structure, and control are capital.

And everyone else can keep sitting in the tank, ironically talking about how bloggers are “not serious”. The story has already moved on. And, as usual, without those who laughed the loudest.