In a recent article on The Trust Advisor, writer Scott Martin takes aim at the Kardashians in a piece titled, "Will Someone In Our Industry Please Tell Kim Kardashian How Private Placements Are Supposed To Work?"
Martin explains that while the Kardashian clan has amassed an estimated $80 million family fortune through TV deals, endorsements, sponsored tweets and seven-figure sex tape settlements, the E! reality-TV family is not "sophisticated" when it comes to the small-cap equity market. Or more likely, they're being ill-advised.
After the three Kardashian sisters did a deal with BOLD cosmetics company, called the Kardashian Khroma Beauty line, the stock’s performance has been dismal.
The publicly traded stock that the Kardashian women are involved with "started trading at 55 cents a share back in July and now it’s down at $0.21, taking 60 percent of investors’ capital with it," reports The Trust Advisor.
According to Martin, "Kim Kardashian’s antics are turning her into a poster child for redefining the rules governing private equity investments."
But the reality TV stars' foray into finance doesn't stop there.
"The sisters experimented with a branded debit card a few years ago, only to pull it off the market one step ahead of the regulators after signing barely 250 accounts," writes Martin. "They got out of the following $75 million breach of contract lawsuit with only incidental losses, but few would consider the venture anything but an embarrassment. Their nominally sophisticated partners went bust."
In their defense, the Kardashian sisters didn't even need to work for a living to begin with.
"High-powered entertainment lawyer Robert Kardashian left his wife and kids a rumored $100 million estate in trust when he died almost a decade ago, so it’s not like they had to build that entire fortune on their own," writes Martin.
The Trust Advisor also takes aim at how Kim's personal life has affected her finances, stating:
Kim’s failed 72-day-marriage to basketball star Kris Humphreys, for example, cost $10 million and attracted close to $18 million in endorsements.
Once the divorce was finalized and Kris got his share of that money — but nothing else, thanks to a Hollywood-tight prenup — the Kardashians’ mother/manager swears that at best Kim broke even on the event.
Now she’s buying new boyfriend Kanye West $750,000 Lamborghinis for his birthday, even though the rap star is reportedly worth more than her entire family combined.
But it could always be worse, as Martin reports, "The video game company that’s been trying to ride the fame of Snooki from Jersey Shore has seen its shares crater 90 percent since the start of the year."
“From reality TV stars to professional athletes to entertainers, many have tried and failed to recreate themselves as entrepreneurs,” adds April Rudin, who runs a high-net-worth marketing group. “Kim Kardashian isn’t Warren Buffett.”
Watch Kim Kardashian talk the economy on CNBC:
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