Kim Kardashian launches private equity firm, becoming the latest celeb to enter the investment industry

Reality TV star Kim Kardashian launched a private equity fund, Skky Partners, which she co-founded with Jay Sammons, a former partner at the investment firm Carlyle Group.

“Together we hope to leverage our complementary expertise to build the next generation Consumer & Media private equity firm,” Kardashian wrote on Twitter.

Alongside investing in consumer and media companies, the firm will also target the hospitality, luxury and digital and e-commerce sectors, Skky Partners tweeted.

It said it would pursue control and minority investments in these industries.

Kardashian and Sammons, who previously ran the Carlyle Group’s global consumer, media and retail division and left the company in July, will serve as co-founders and co-managing partners, with Sammons running daily operations at the firm. Sammons has previously worked with global brands like Supreme, Beats by Dr.Dre, Vogue, McDonald’s China and Moncler, according to his LinkedIn profile.  

Kardashian’s mother and long-time manager, Kris Jenner, is also a partner at the new firm. On Twitter, she said she was “proud, honored and excited” about joining the firm.

Skky Partners did not immediately respond to a CNBC request for comment.

Kardashian originally became famous on reality TV show “Keeping Up with the Kardashians,” which ran from 2007 until 2021. She now stars in the spin-off show “The Kardashians” and has 329 million followers on Instagram.

With the launch for Skky Partners, Kardashian has become the latest celebrity to join the private equity and venture capital industry, joining the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio, Gwyneth Paltrow and Serena Williams.

Tennis star Williams’ venture capital firm Serena Ventures raised $111 million in March and has invested in over 50 companies worth a total of more than $14 billion since it was founded in 2014. This includes online learning platform MasterClass and social audio app Clubhouse.    

Kardashian already has a track record as a successful entrepreneur. Her shapewear brand Skims was valued at $3.2 billion in January, while her make-up brand KKW gained widespread popularity after launching in 2017. In June, the entrepreneur rebranded KKW to SKKN as the company shifted from make-up to skin care.

This is also not the first time Kardashian has publicly spoken about finance and investing. In 2021, the star posted advertisements for cryptocurrency on her Instagram account, which had around 228 million followers at the time. She has since been sued by investors of the cryptocurrency she promoted, EthereumMax. The class action, which was filed earlier this year, claims that Kardashian and other celebrities who promoted the token collaborated with its creators to “misleadingly promote and sell” it.