For the longest time, celebrity endorsements have been important for companies looking to improve their brand image and boost sales. By connecting a loved face to their product, people would trust and invest in the company – hey, if it’s good enough for a beloved celebrity, it must be good enough for everyone else!
However, it now appears that celebrities have decided they can secure an even bigger slice of the pie by launching their own companies and products. Celebrities from every type of space are launching brands left and right, as if they weren’t already busy enough as is.
So, how does it really work out when someone with fame decides they’re also going to launch a company? Is the success rate higher than average, or do just as many companies fail as when a regular Joe launches a new venture?
We’re looking at three case studies of celebrities who launched a business and how that worked out, and then we’re summing up with some insights about factors that often determine the fate of a famed face’s new venture.
1. Kim Kardashian’s Skims
Kim Kardashian is, without a doubt, one of the most famous people today. She has 356 million followers on Instagram at the time of writing, placing her among the top 10 most-followed accounts on the platform.
The star has previously done endorsements for other major brands, including Balenciaga, but the fateful decision to create her own shapewear brand would be one of the most financially enriching decisions of her life. It was 2019 when she, Emma Grede, and Jens Grede launched Skims – in 2025, the brand is worth billions.
One reason this business venture has been so successful is that, as a savvy businesswoman, Kim created a context where she can establish herself as an authority that people trust. She also collaborated with the Gredes to get the necessary expertise, rather than try to run something she doesn’t have time for or enough knowledge about by herself. The business streak seems to run in the family – other family members like Kylie, Kris, and Kourtney have also exceeded expectations with wildly successful companies.
However, we must also not forget that this wasn’t Kim’s first attempt at running a business. She has launched many others throughout the years, some more or less successful, but all of them have inevitably taught her valuable lessons about the world of commerce.
2. Mr Beast’s Business Ventures
MrBeast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, is one of the richest YouTubers in the world, and his entire YouTube channel is a massive, highly successful business. It’s impossible to doubt his capabilities as a businessman.
Among the different ventures MrBeast has launched are a burger chain and snack company.
The burger chain, MrBeast Burger, is a delivery-only burger chain – a so-called virtual restaurant – that generated millions in its first few months. But not all that starts well ends well.
In 2023, Donaldson wanted to withdraw from the business, and a series of deleted tweets explained that he was moving on from MrBeast Burger and regretted signing a bad deal. Soon after, he filed a lawsuit for breach of contract against the company, citing several complaints, including failure to uphold his quality standards.
Jimmy’s business troubles don’t end there. The big name he’s made for himself has sometimes backfired on him, being used by illegitimate businesses to create trust and excitement instantly.
One such example is the Plinko Casino, which, through cut-up clips and deepfakes, advertised itself as MrBeast’s casino app. A review of the Mr Beast casino app reveals that Jimmy had nothing to do with it, and that it was both fake advertising and a scam app. There are, however, some great legitimate casino alternatives online where you can take advantage of brilliant bonuses and sign-up offers.
But that’s not to say that all his business ventures outside of YouTube have been unfortunate.
His snack brand, Feastables, launched at the beginning of 2022, is, according to the website, “on a mission to change the way you snack“ with fair-trade ingredients and ethical sourcing. In 2025, the brand sells nine different flavors, including Birthday Cake Batter, Peanut Butter, and Cookies & Creme. The quality snacks are sold in big retail stores like Walmart, 7-Eleven, Target, and Kroger. The business now generates millions in profit every month, earning him more than his well-known YouTube channel.
More Contents:
the top celebrity investors of 2024
Top Investment Real Estate Companies to Watch in 2025
3. Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty
Rihanna and her brand Fenty Beauty are both wildly successful and widely loved. The makeup brand first launched in 2017 and became known for its long-lasting foundation in an impressive almost sixty shades, living up to the promoted value of inclusivity.
Fenty takes a playful approach to beauty, but one that is kind, bold, and inclusive – perfectly mirroring Rihanna’s brand. These days, the brand is much more than makeup. It’s also skin care, hair care, and fragrance.
The brand also stands out for the videos that showcase each product in action, featuring people of various skin tones, hair textures, and ethnicities. Shoppers get a proper look at how the product really works, making the brand more approachable – that is, if the premium high price tags don’t turn you off.
In 2021, 4 years after the launch, the brand made Rihanna a billionaire. And Rihanna’s immense success in business is clearly not a fluke! On top of Fenty Beauty, Rihanna also owns the highly successful lingerie brand Savage x Fenty.
Factors That Lead To Success
As we’ve seen, not all celebrity businesses are fated to success. In fact, for every successful one, at least a few crashed and burned – despite the initial advantage against an unknown brand trying to gain a name for itself.
When a celebrity’s business succeeds or flops, it has everything to do with brand strategy and the quality of products. As these brands generate enough attention to receive necessary feedback, a good celebrity brand is almost certain to succeed. But what makes a celebrity brand good?
A few things come to mind, including:
- Using brand image and authority to one’s advantage. One of the most important factors for success is that a celebrity uses the credibility they have to make the brand trustworthy. This can only be done if the space in which they launch the brand aligns with their own image and reputation. Besides areas of expertise, it’s important to consider their public personalities and how they align with the brand. Someone known to be spunky should also launch a somewhat edgier brand, while someone known to be kind and soft doing the same will come across as arrogant and pretentious.
- Ensuring quality from the start. An ill-prepared launch is certain to generate significant criticism and distrust, quickly eroding both the brand and the celebrity behind it. That’s why it’s so important to ensure a level of quality before launching, rather than rushing it and going back later.
- Taking fan feedback to heart. Fans want to see their idols succeed, which is why it’s important for the entrepreneur behind a new brand to be very attentive to the needs and preferences of their customers. If the celebrity in question can only create a product that people genuinely like, fans will happily continue buying to support their artists.
- Expanding the brand and actively promoting new products. While the same sales pitch repeated over and over quickly becomes tiring, a celebrity who excitedly promotes new products related to what her followers truly care about won’t. By expanding the product line and introducing limited-edition products, a celebrity can remind followers of the brand without the message getting old.
Launching a brand as a celebrity, however, has its downsides. Due to heightened awareness and feelings, attacks can easily become personal, and experts’ judgments can be hasty. Even smaller mistakes can ultimately damage the brand image. Likewise, if the celebrity behind a company ends up in a scandal, it can simultaneously damage the business. Many will be familiar with Ye and his successful businesses and deals that quickly burned to the ground after several of his hateful and antisemitic public outbursts.
Studies suggest that being a celebrity entrepreneur can be riskier than simply being a brand endorser – a poor brand can easily damage the personal one, perhaps more than the personal brand affects the credibility of the venture.
At the same time, it has propelled many celebrities – such as Rihanna, Dr. Dre, Selena Gomez, and Ariana Grande – to new levels of wealth, while also allowing them to discover and express a new side of themselves.
