Who is Jay Sammons? Kim Kardashian’s new business partner at private equity firm Skky Partners invested in Supreme and Beats by Dr Dre – and backed Scooter Braum’s Taylor Swift album buyout

Sep 11 , 2022

Kim Kardashian and Jay Sammons are working together on a new private equity firm, Skky Partners. So who is this 46-year-old LGBTQ+ investor guru? Photo: @kimkardashian/Instagram

From reality TV star to billionaire Skims founder, now Kim K is moving into the private equity game, launching the new firm Skky Partners with Jay Sammons

The JP Morgan alum is a longtime Kardashian chum, and supported Scooter Braun’s buy-out of Big Machine Label Group – and subsequently Taylor Swift’s first six albums

Kim Kardashian is much more than a reality TV star these days. Besides her billion-dollar Skims empire, she’s just added another role to her ever-growing resumé: investing. On September 7, the 41-year-old announced that she’s launching a private equity firm with Jay Sammons, called Skky Partners.

Skky Partners will invest in consumer and media businesses, such as hospitality, luxury, digital commerce and media, with plans to make both control and minority investments. Her mother, Kris Jenner, is also a partner at the firm.

But who is Kardashian’s new business partner? Here are six facts to know about the suave 46-year-old businessman.

He was head of consumer investing at Carlyle for 16 years

Jay Sammons worked as a partner at Carlyle for 16 years. Photo: Carlyle

Carlyle, an American multinational global investment firm, boasts the management of US$376 billion of assets. It invests private capital in three business segments: global private equity, global credit and global investment solutions. It presently helms 26 offices across five continents and employs more than 1,900 professionals worldwide.

Sammons joined the firm as a partner and global head of consumer in media and retail. He left in August after a 16-year tenure.

Facilitated the purchase of Taylor Swift’s albums

Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings acquired Big Machine Label Group, home to Taylor Swift’s first six albums, including the Grammy winners for album of the year, 2008’s Fearless and 2014’s 1989. Photos: Invision/AP

Carlyle has a minority share in Ithaca Holdings, the record label which owned Taylor Swift’s first six albums. Sammons, who sits on the board of Ithaca, supported the buyout in 2019.

Swift has maintained a long-running beef with Scooter Braun, the founder of Ithaca that acquired her former record label, Big Machine Label Group, and essentially owned her records. He later sold the Fearless star’s masters to a private equity company in 2020.

Kanye West takes the microphone from best female video winner Taylor Swift as he praises the video entry from Beyoncé at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards in New York. Photo: Reuters

Swift’s animosity with him stemmed from Kanye West, who he worked with, per BBC. West has openly attacked Swift on several occasions, even featuring a wax figure depicting her naked body in the music video “Famous” in 2016.

According to Business Insider, Sammons previously declined to comment directly on Swift’s tantrum over the deal, which she had called the “worst case scenario” in a Tumblr post.