Kim Kardashian is partnering with Jay Sammons, a former partner at the Carlyle Group who spent 16 years at the firm to launch SKKY Partners: a private equity firm focused on investing in and building consumer and media businesses.
I am fascinated by this concept of having a celebrity megaphone attached to investor capital. Kardashian has had plenty of success building her own empire. Per an article in the WSJ:
The undergarment and apparel business she started in 2019, Skims, was valued at $3.2 billion in January. The company raised $240 million at that time in a funding round led by Lone Pine Capital. This year she launched a skin-care line, SKKN BY KIM, a nine-product collection.
Now with this partnership, Kardashian will benefit from the wealth created by performance fees generated with other people’s money (OPM). For Sammons, its an opportunity to accelerate growth with Kardashian’s global reach and social media empire.
No investments have been made yet, but it will be interesting to see how they perform with this unique combination.