Kim K's private equity struggles

Why is Kim Kardashian's SKKY Partners struggling to fundraise?

4/26/24 11:31AM

It's a tale of two fundraising environments.

Kim Kardashian has, so far, only raised $121M out of a targeted $1-2B for her SKKY Partners fund in the last year and a half. KKR, meanwhile, has raised $11B out of a targeted $20B for its Global Infrastructure Investors V fund in the last five months.

Why has Kim Kardashian’s fund struggled so much? Three reasons.

First, total investments and exits in private markets have slowed dramatically since 2021. Bain noted in its 2024 Private Equity Outlook that investment and exit transaction volume are down more than 60% since 2021. Less deals and less exits mean it’s only going to be harder to raise new funding.

Second, first-time fundraising has been hammered especially hard. In 2021, as valuations and deal volume peaked, a wave of first-time fund managers raised capital. However, with deal flow slowing, investors are now applying more scrutiny to where they invest. In their 2024 LP Perspectives Survey, Private Equity International noted that 33% of managers are less likely to invest in first-time managers over the next 12 months.

Additionally, investors have soured on the consumer space, where SKYY Partners is focusing its efforts. According to Reuters, Carlyle, Warburg Pincus, THL, and Centerbridge have all pulled back on consumer investments.

Raising money as a first-time manager to invest in an unpopular market is a tough sell for investors, even if you’re Kim Kardashian.

Max Knoblauch22h

The Trump administration is reportedly planning a 50% made-in-America requirement for USMCA tariff relief

Qualifying for USMCA-related lower tariffs may soon require more US-made vehicle components, according to reporting by The Wall Street Journal.

The Trump administration is reportedly planning to introduce a 50% US content requirement for vehicles covered by the trade pact to receive lower tariffs. The content would be measured by cost, according to the WSJ.

There currently isn’t any US-specific requirement for those lower tariff rates, but in order to receive preferential tariffs, vehicles are must contain at least 75% regional content (components made in North America). Per Reuters reporting, the Trump admin is seeking to raise the regional requirement to 82%.

These reported plans are subject to change as the US negotiates USMCA terms with Mexico over the next few months.

Overall, Tesla will likely have the easiest time qualifying for any stricter requirements. The automaker’s vehicles contained the highest amount of US/Canadian content in 2025, according to American University research. Ford, GM, and Stellantis all scored lower.

Notably: the underlying government data that many domestic content measurements rely on intentionally combines US and Canadian components, so it’s difficult to know exactly how much of any given vehicle is specifically US-made.

Exclusive | Trump Administration Wants Autos Under USMCA to Be at Least 50% Made in America

These reported plans are subject to change as the US negotiates USMCA terms with Mexico over the next few months.

Tom Jones5/29/26

The $640,000 Luce makes the average Ferrari look like a bargain

Put aside the shape; put aside the smoothing out of Ferrari’s iconic sharp edges; put aside, even, the calls from former Chairman and President Luca Cordero di Montezemolo to “take the Prancing Horse off.” On the grounds of price alone, Luce detractors might have a point.

By now, many of us will have read the criticisms of Ferrari’s first fully electric vehicle, as the Luce — which was unveiled to the world earlier this week and promptly saw the company’s shares crash out in New York and Milan — gets subtly shaded by competitors online and not-so-subtly shaded by basically everyone else.

What makes all of this worse for Ferrari is that, even by the luxury car maker’s notoriously high standards, they’ve slapped a pretty hefty price tag on the Luce, and the company’s CEO, Benedetto Vigna, has already been forced to defend the €550,000 ($640,000) price point, saying yesterday that it’s “fair to pay for innovation,” per Reuters.

While Ferrari’s cars have been getting more expensive of late, as recently as 2022, Ferrari’s average revenue per car sold was around $340,000. At nearly twice that price, this new electric model is obviously proving a little much (visually, conceptually, and financially) for many loyal and long-standing fans of the Prancing Horse to stomach.