It came as a bit of a shock when, a year ago, Kim Kardashian and ex-Carlyle partner Sammons said they were going into business together, and setting out to start their own consumer business-focused private equity firm.
While the duo has yet to make a first deal—or even close their first fund—Sammons and Kardashian say they’ve narrowed in on a few targets, and are laying out their first handful of hires, and in a new feature story by my colleague Emma Hinchliffe they detail what the rest of us can expect from SKKY Partners.
Kardashian and Sammons are aiming to make eight to 12 control or active minority investments over the next four to five years, focused on the North American market, they told Hinchliffe, and plan to focus on what Kardashian specializes in: Think fashion and beauty, but also potentially sectors like like media, food and beverage, and hospitality. Here’s more:
In a September phone call from her Calabasas home, Kardashian painted a picture of her ideal portfolio company: It will have an active founder who puts their “heart and soul” into the company. “I want to hear their vision. I want to hear their dreams,” she says. She’s looking for the “magic sauce” that tells her a brand has something special. Also on her wish list is “authenticity,” not a startup that resembles her own brands. “It’s not like they’re going to start working with my fund and all of a sudden their whole brand is nude and beige, like a Kim-branded company,” she says. Instead, she wants to show founders how to find their own niche that resonates with consumers.
What Kardashian doesn’t want is any association with private equity’s reputation as a corporate raider. At its worst, the industry is known for buying up struggling businesses, laying off workers, and selling what’s left for parts. Sammons agrees that SKKY can avoid that approach. “There are a lot of great private equity firms that are excellent at fixing things that are broken”—also known as buying “distressed” businesses—“and financially engineering in a way that creates value for their investors. But it’s a very different way of creating value than we do,” he says.
And just how did the two of them decide to work with one another anyway?
For years, Sammons has lent Kardashian his ear. The two met a decade ago, after being introduced by Anastasia Soare, founder of beauty brand Anastasia Beverly Hills.
They bonded over their shared obsession with consumer brands that tapped into the cultural zeitgeist…The pair stayed in touch. Kardashian would sometimes call Sammons for business advice as he progressed in his own career.
As Sammons got to know Kardashian, he recognized that behind the glossy public persona is a businesswoman with an infallible gut instinct who doesn’t mind delving into operational minutiae. Kardashian trusts others in areas that she’s less familiar with, like finance, but she steers the decision making in the categories where she’s more confident—marketing, product, popular culture. When she was choosing Skims’ earliest products, her executive team was skeptical of the mass appeal of shapewear that conformed to skirts with high slits—with one leg cut as a short and the other a brief. Kardashian, who serves as Skims’ creative director, stuck by her instincts; Skims has sold the item for years.
Her skill set struck Sammons as a good fit for consumer private equity, a $71.7 billion category last year, where success depends on knowing what’s trending, and why—and how to help it get even bigger. So he made the unlikeliest of pitches to Kardashian and Jenner (now a SKKY senior advisor): He suggested they launch a private equity firm together.
You can read the full story here.
More craziness at Carta…Carta, the equity management startup backed by Andreessen Horowitz and last valued at $7.4 billion, has become entangled in two more lawsuits filed by former employees, both of whom are women. In separate lawsuits, the women allege instances of sexual harassment or sex discrimination, according to the complaints first reported by Fortune. In subsequent legal filings, Carta and one of its executives have vehemently denied the claims. You can read more here.
See you tomorrow,
Jessica Mathews
Twitter: @jessicakmathews
Email: jessica.mathews@fortune.com
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