Kim Kardashian has hired financial-industry professionals for her private equity firm SKKY Partners.
Key Details
- SKKY Partners now has nearly 12 employees and expects to surpass 15 by the end of this year, according to co-founder Jay Sammons.
- The firm’s new COO, Kaitlin May, previously worked for Apollo, Citigroup Inc., and Putnam Investments, where she served as head of global institutional management, according to Bloomberg.
- The firm also hired two vice presidents—Brittany Serafino, who joined from L Catterton, and former Bain Capital employee Zachary Litner.
- SKKY Partners is based in Boston and invests in consumer products and the media industry, with Kardashian and Sammons serving as co-managing partners and co-founders.
Why it’s news
The Kardashians are no strangers to starting new business ventures. Each family member has various businesses, from makeup to shapewear and even tequila.
Kim Kardashian is worth around $1.8 billion, mainly in part to her successful brands KKW Beauty and Skims. She has been striving to make a name for herself other than just being a reality star and is stepping foot into law.
In December 2021, Kardashian announced that she had passed the “baby bar” exam, a test required for lawyers who did not attend law school. Her steps into law follow after her late father, Robert Kardashian, who was notably the defense attorney in the murder trial of O.J. Simpson.
In September, Kardashian announced her partnership with Sammons to create SKKY Partners. Sammons, a 17-year Carlyle veteran, worked on investments including Beats by Dre, skin-care company Philosophy, and cosmetics company Beautycounter.
“We’ve made a lot of headway in only a few months and are looking forward to seeing our first investments come to life,” Kardashian says in an email, stressing the firm has “an incredibly diverse team and dynamic culture.”
The firm focuses on control and minority investments in high-growth, market-leading consumer and media companies. Six of the nearly dozen employees are women, and two identify as LGBTQ.
The new firm has also added a wide variety of talent, including Riyanka Ganguly, formerly at Blackstone Inc., as a senior associate. Ashley Baxter, who worked at growth investment firm Stripes, joined as an associate. A director of finance, Mark Urso, has joined from Petra Funds Group, and last year the firm added a managing director, David Brisske, from Permira, according to Bloomberg.
“Kim and I have both experienced the power of diverse teams and highly inclusive cultures that bring the most impactful and creative thinking out of everyone,” says Sammons. “It’s the right way to make the best decisions, and the way we are building SKKY is no different.”
