On Wednesday, September 8, 2022, 41-year-old business entrepreneur and reality show star Kim Kardashian and 46-year-old former Carlyle Group Inc. partner and JP Morgan analyst Jay Sammons announced via a joint statement the launch of their own private equity firm. Sammons plans on managing day-to-day operations while he and Kardashian serve with others as managing partners.
What Is the Definition of Private Equity?
In the simplest terms, Kardashian and Sammons have created a firm that deals in a type of investment scenario in which investors focus on buying shares and dealing with acquisitions related to mature, privately held companies.
Read More »What Does a Private Equity Firm Do?
A firm that deals with private equity makes investments on behalf of investors and charges fees depending on their services. The firm primarily focuses on helping the companies that they invest in grow and increase their worth.
Private equity investments make it possible for companies to receive funding and grow without many of the negative influences and pressures associated with dealing with public markets. According to the announcement, the new firm created by Kardashian and Sammons, known as SKKY Partners, plans on making controlling-stake and non-controlling or minority investments in businesses associated with consumer products, digital commerce, hospitality, luxury and media.
How Did this Partnership Start?
In July 2022, after 16 years of success at Carlyle Group Inc. where he made investments in a similar fashion, Sammons exited the firm and opened up talks with Kardashian. He had known her and her mother, Kris Jenner, for years.
As a result of Kim’s and Kris’ positive reaction to the idea, the partnership moved forward. Jenner plans to also act as a partner in the firm. She currently manages the majority of the businesses for her family. Sammons has referred to both women as “true entrepreneurs.”
What Else Is Kardashian Doing in Business?
Many years ago, Kim Kardashian began to expand her business interests away from reality television and related ventures, such as endorsements, merchandising and promotions, to other areas. Her current business ventures include a beauty and makeup empire under the KKW brand (KKW Beauty and KKW Fragrance and the SKKN BY KIM skin-care collection) and an apparel and undergarment shapewear company known as SKIMS.
Kardashian’s success comes from more than her reputation as a reality star. She has built a massive social media following that has fueled her entrepreneurial successes. On merely Instagram, she has more than 329 million followers. On Twitter, she has 73.5 million. In January 2022, SKIMS alone received a $3.2 billion valuation.
How Does Kardashian Feel About Her New Pursuit?
Kim Kardashian expressed her desire to work closely with consumer and media entrepreneurs eager to grow their businesses. She noted that the idea of helping these companies to grow and thrive made the idea of setting up a private equity firm attractive to her. She told the press that she’s excited about helping these businesses “figure out what their dream is” and then provide them with “support and get them to a different level” without changing them.
Sammons noted that Kardashian is taking a “differentiated approach” because they’re coupling his more than two decades of experience in the industry to provide financial and investment support and Kardashian’s global influence, reach and social attractiveness to aid companies.
When Does SKKY Partners Plan to Open Its Doors?
Kardashian and Sammons plan to make SKKY Partners available in the cities where they live (i.e. Los Angeles, CA for Kardashian and Boston, MA for Sammons). They don’t expect to make any investments until almost the end of 2022.
They haven’t indicated an estimated fund size yet or started fundraising efforts by reaching out to individual or institutional investors. Given their vast business and social networks, trending buzz and growing interest, they’re expected to do extremely well. Kardashian alone was able to raise $240 million during a fundraising round for her SKIMS line.
Why Are Celebrities Launching Financial Firms?
Financial experts have noted a serious shift in behavior by many celebrities in recent years. A large number of some of the most famous people in the world have decided to increasingly invest their money and time in founding financial firms, especially private equity and venture capital firms, instead of making traditional individual consumer-based investments.
The shift seems influenced by growing economic, market and wealth-generation instability and concerns. Well-known founders of new firms include Ashton Kutcher, Gwyneth Paltrow and Leonardo DiCaprio. Hollywood’s elite aren’t the only ones making this type of decision. The 40-year-old tennis legend Serena Williams, who announced her plan to retire this year, raised $111 million during a fundraising round in March for a new venture capital firm called Serena Ventures. It already has a $14 billion market valuation.
Is SKKY Partners Hiring?
Jobseekers who believe that they have something to offer to this new business enterprise should start to prepare themselves for future “hiring” advertisements and interviews. That said, they can’t start applying yet. Although SKKY Partners has a basic website set up at https://skky.com/, it doesn’t feature a Jobs or Careers page. The contact page does note a “General Inquiries” email address of info@skky.com, but it doesn’t say if jobseekers can use that address.
Financial and career experts recommend that anyone with experience in the industry who’s interested in working for SKKY Partners, such as analysts, bankers and even customer service representatives, should start drafting their exemplary professional resumes so that they can apply immediately and make a great impression when positions finally start to open up.
This is an ongoing news story.