Kim Kardashian Launches Private Equity Firm With Carlyle Alum, Kris Jenner Joins as Partner
Kim Kardashian has added another title to her growing number of business ventures – investor.
The reality star and beauty mogul has teamed up with Jay Sammons to open a new private equity firm. Called SKKY Partners, this new company will capitalize on the founders’ collective experience investing in and building large scale consumer and media businesses along with Kardashian’s global reach and unrivaled social influence, the firm said in a statement.
According to the firm, SKKY will make both control and minority investments in growth-oriented, market-leading consumer and media companies. SKKY said its target sectors include consumer products, digital & e-commerce, consumer media & entertainment, hospitality and luxury.
Kardashian and Sammons, who has spent the last 16 years at Carlyle, will serve as co-founders and co-managing partners, while Kris Jenner will serve as a partner at the firm. According to SKKY, Jenner will work with the team to identify and pursue differentiated investment opportunities, and to drive strategy, impact and value.
“I’m excited to launch SKKY Partners to invest in the next generation of consumer brands, leveraging my experience founding and building global businesses and partnering with innovative companies to help them grow,” Kardashian said in a statement. “I look forward to working closely with Jay and our team to identify distinctive investment opportunities and build the firm’s portfolio of world class companies for our investors.”
“I have been privileged to spend my career partnering with the founders and leaders of some of the most influential and culturally groundbreaking consumer brands of our time,” Sammons added. “Now, in partnership with Kim and Kris, I look forward to building SKKY into the leading private equity firm that backs the next generation of innovative, disruptive consumer businesses and brands.”
As the founder of multiple businesses valued over $1 billion and one of the most recognized and followed women in the world, Kardashian has established herself as an influential business leader over the years.
Since coming to prominence through her family’s E! reality TV show, “Keeping Up With the Kardashians,” Kardashian has translated her popularity into several successful businesses in the fashion and beauty spaces, first launching a makeup line, KKW Beauty, in 2017 to capitalize on her popular contour makeup look. She later expanded the line into all makeup categories and launched a complementary fragrance brand, called KKW Fragrance.
In June, Kardashian launched a rebranded KKW Beauty, now known as SKKN by Kim. The nine-product skincare collection, made in collaboration with Coty, ditched makeup and focused on “bridging the gap between the world’s most renowned dermatological experts and people at home seeking high-performance skincare.”
In 2019, Kardashian set out on her next entrepreneurial venture with the launch of shapewear brand Skims. She originally revealed the brand under the name Kimono, but later changed it after she faced backlash for cultural appropriation. Skims has since gone on to collaborate with Fendi late last year and has expanded its product line to include bras and swim.