"Anyone in marketing gawking at the near-billion price tag attached to TikTok creator Khaby Lame and his deal with Rich Sparkle Holdings isn't really looking at innovation. They're witnessing faith. Faith in what this industry has collectively agreed to let numbers represent. Because that $975 million valuation doesn't seem to be rooted in the nuts and bolts of Lame's company Step Distinctive Limited's financials so much as the gravitational pull of his audience."
"Look closer, though, and the shine dulls. That $975 million figure is mainly stock, not a mountain of cash, which means his paper fortune now rides the mood swings of Rich Sparke Holdings' share price. His oft-cited 360 followers is rooted in platform-reported totals, duplicated across apps, shaped by algorithms and ultimately controlled by companies that can tweak distribution at will."
A near-$1 billion valuation for Khaby Lame's company is driven mainly by audience metrics and projected sales rather than concrete financials. The deal frames the creator as a global traffic gateway to roughly 360 million followers and projects more than $4 billion in annual sales. Much of the valuation is stock, exposing value to share-price volatility. Reported follower totals are duplicated across platforms, shaped by algorithms and controlled by platforms that can change distribution. The revenue projection relies on optimistic conversion and spending assumptions that large media businesses seldom meet consistently. The creator-industrial complex often translates cultural reach into fragile enterprise valuations.
Read at Digiday
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