Billionaire Kim Kardashian is entering the world of star-backed energy drinks by joining UPDATE, a beverage startup that uses a caffeine alternative in its products to avoid mood crashes, which has landed a nationwide distribution agreement with Walmart.
Kardashian began using the product in 2023 and started offering unsolicited feedback the following year, which eventually led to a partnership, according to a press release shared with Forbes.
Kardashian will be “co-founder” of UPDATE's relaunch, the release said, which will include new packaging developed in partnership with Kardashian as well as a reformulation and more “accessible” pricing (exact pricing was not disclosed).
UPDATE's original cofounders include former investment banker Daniel Solomons and the billionaire Hess family , original owners of oil company Hess Corp.
Walmart will be carrying the beverage in five flavors across 4,000 stores nationwide starting March 1, with additional flavors rolling out throughout the year.
Kardashian became a billionaire in 2021 and has an estimated net worth of $1.9 billion. The vast majority of her fortune comes from her stake in Skims, her shapewear business, which was valued at $5 billion after a 2025 funding round. Skims is now reportedly eyeing the public market. In 2021, she sold 20% of her cosmetics company, KKW Beauty, to French beauty giant Coty for $200 million. The rest of Kardashian's fortune sits in cash and investments, including her Axel Vervoordt-designed Hidden Hills mansion, paychecks from Keeping Up With the Kardashians, newer Hulu spinoff The Kardashians, 2025 legal drama All's Fair (which was met with a fair share of derision ) and endorsement deals.
UPDATE is hardly the first energy drink to receive the celebrity treatment. Prime, co-founded by YouTube stars Logan Paul and KSI in 2021, went viral and attracted mass enthusiasm among young consumers to the point of inspiring a South Park episode, and within two years of its launch was projected to surpass $1.2 billion in annual sales. (The drink's popularity has since declined.) Podcaster Alex Cooper hit the market with her own beverage brand, Unwell Hydration, in 2024, which gained Target distribution in 2025, and expanded into the energy drink branch with Unwell Energy in December. The company has since secured a sponsorship deal with the National Women's Soccer League valued at around $3 million. Other celebrities in the energy drink industry include soccer legend Lionel Messi (Más+) and Dwayne Johnson (ZOA Energy).
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