Rich Sparkle Holdings Limited (ANPA) announced Sunday it has closed the acquisition of Step Distinctive Limited, the entity behind TikTok sensation Khaby Lame. If you've spent any time on social media in the past few years, you know Khaby: he's the guy who silently mocks overcomplicated life hacks with deadpan facial expressions. Now Rich Sparkle wants to turn those 360 million followers into a structured, revenue-generating commerce engine.
The acquisition shifts the relationship from one-off influencer brand partnerships to an exclusive, formalized arrangement. Instead of Khaby promoting random products when the mood strikes, Step Distinctive and Rich Sparkle now control the entire commercial pipeline, from marketing strategy to fulfillment and customer service. Think of it as transforming a viral personality into a full-scale e-commerce platform.
Turning Followers Into Dollars
Rich Sparkle sees Khaby's massive audience as a unique global distribution network. By integrating online traffic, operations, logistics, and technology infrastructure, the company believes fan-driven live-commerce could generate upward of $4 billion in annual sales. That's an ambitious target, but with 360 million followers, even modest conversion rates could move serious volume.
Khaby Lame is expected to become a controlling shareholder in the venture, which aligns his personal brand growth with the financial performance of the business. Investors tend to like this kind of skin-in-the-game structure.
For the next three years, Anhui Xiaoheiyang Network Technology Co. will exclusively execute the global business plan, handling live video sales, TikTok Shop operations, product curation, supply chain management, shipping, and customer support.
Enter the AI Clone
Here's where it gets futuristic: the agreement permits creation of an AI-powered digital twin of Khaby Lame using his facial features, voice data, and behavioral patterns. The virtual Khaby would enable multilingual content production and support live commerce streams around the clock, across different time zones. One human, infinite digital versions.
The initial launch targets the United States, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia, with localized pricing and separate profit accounting for each region.
Industry observers note that scaling globally will ultimately depend on navigating local compliance hurdles including data authorization rules, advertising disclosure requirements, consumer protection laws, cross-border logistics capabilities, after-sales service quality, AI content risk management, and brand safety protocols.