Kylie Jenner covers Forbes because she’s on track to be a billionaire

kylie forbes

Welp, can’t say I’m surprised by this. Kylie Jenner covers the latest issue of Forbes to celebrate the fact that she’s built a billion-dollar cosmetics empire out of her mom’s kitchen. Kris Jenner must be so proud of what her youngest baby has done. I mean, we can roll our eyes at Kylie all day long, but she’s laughing all the way to the bank. What started out as an iffy pet project to make and sell her own private collection of lipstick has grown into a company that’s worth, on paper, about $900 million. You can read the Forbes cover story here.

Just 20 when this story publishes (she’ll turn 21 in August) and an extremely young mother (she had baby daughter Stormi in February), Kylie Jenner runs one of the hottest makeup companies ever. Kylie Cosmetics launched two years ago with a $29 “lip kit” consisting of a matching set of lipstick and lip liner, and has sold more than $630 million worth of makeup since, including an estimated $330 million in 2017. Even using a conservative multiple, and applying our standard 20% discount, Forbes values her company, which has since added other cosmetics like eye shadow and concealer, at nearly $800 million. Jenner owns 100% of it.

Add to that the millions she’s earned from TV programs and endorsing products like Puma shoes and PacSun clothing, and $60 million in estimated after-tax dividends she’s taken from her company, and she’s conservatively worth $900 million, which along with her age makes her the youngest person on the fourth annual ranking of America’s Richest Self-Made Women. (We estimate that 37-year-old Kardashian West, for comparison, is worth $350 million.) But she’s not just making history as a woman. Another year of growth will make her the youngest self-made billionaire ever, male or female, trumping Mark Zuckerberg, who became a billionaire at age 23.

Ultimately their fortunes all derive from the same place. “Social media is an amazing platform,” Jenner says. “I have such easy access to my fans and my customers.”

That and a large dose of tastemaking are pretty much her entire business, an invention of the Instagram age. Hewlett and Packard immortalized the garage–Jenner has her (or her mom’s) kitchen table. Her near-billion-dollar empire consists of just seven full-time and five part-time employees. Manufacturing and packaging? Outsourced to Seed Beauty, a private-label producer in nearby Oxnard, California. Sales and fulfillment? Outsourced to the online outlet Shopify. Finance and PR? Her shrewd mother, Kris, handles the actual business stuff, in exchange for the 10% management cut she takes from all her children. As ultralight startups go, Jenner’s operation is essentially air. And because of those minuscule overhead and marketing costs, the profits are outsize and go right into Jenner’s pocket.

[From Forbes]

Forbes goes on to point out the craziest part of Kylie Cosmetics’ success: she has zero advertising budget. She takes selfies and she has a glam squad, of course, but it’s really just Kylie posting photos and updates about cosmetics on her own social media platforms. That’s it. Girl has never done a print ad. She’s not shooting commercials. She posting selfies of the new lipsticks and eye shadows on her Instagram and that’s it. And here’s the kicker: I remember there was some conversation about how Kris Jenner worried that Kylie’s pregnancy would end up derailing the cosmetics company. It did not. At all. If anything, Kylie is an even bigger name now and she gets even more free publicity because of the pregnancy and baby.

morning … #BOSS on my lips.

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Photos courtesy of Instagram, Twitter, cover courtesy of Forbes.

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134 Responses to “Kylie Jenner covers Forbes because she’s on track to be a billionaire”

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  1. H says:

    Has anyone over 40 used her lip kits? For the last decade I’ve only use MAC lipstick and been very pleased. But willing to try something different if it works and lasts a long time.

    • Jay says:

      H, try Stila stay all day liquid lipstick! My favorite shades are bacca (deep magenta) and fiery (slightly cool red). Lots of folks like beso, which is a warmer red but looks bad on me. I LOVE THIS BRAND. It stays on forever. It’ll come off if you’re eating something suuuuuuper greasy (like a big juicy burger you keep smooshing your face into), but I’ve had pizza and stuff and only a tiny bit smudged off. Prices should be comparable to MAC, maybe a little less but I haven’t bought MAC in a while so I wouldn’t know. For a cheaper longwear but nowhere near as long as Stila, I like NYX soft matte lip creme. My favorite is Copenhagen, a very blue red. Applied on exfoliated not moisturized lips, and let to dry a minute or two, it hangs on, and it’s not too drying. If you just swipe it on over chapstick or don’t let it sit long enough before you eat a piece of pizza or put on chapstick or lick your lips, it won’t stay on as well and will wipe off kinda easy. Hope that helps!

      • Melissa Melissa says:

        Milani Color Statement Matte Lipstick is pretty good for the drugstore. I wear Matt 68 Iconic which always gets me compliments, Matt 69 Beauty is a perfect neutral.

    • CityGirl says:

      I don’t even spend MAC money – I’ve been using Revlon transfer resistant lip color forever. I don’t know how young people – clearly her market – can afford $29 lip color!

      • me says:

        They can afford it because they have ZERO bills to pay. Mommy and Daddy pay for the cell phone bills and wi-fi bills…that’s all these kids care about lol. In fact, I bet most of these lip kits were purchased with mommy and daddy’s money too.

      • Alissa says:

        @me wow what a condescending comment.

        @CityGirl if you just buy the lipstick and not the kit, it’s 17. personally I’m 30 and swear by it, I’ve tried a few different matte lips and hers are the only ones that have great color and stay for as long as I want them too. I can even eat and they barely smudge.

    • Jen says:

      I am 35 and I use it, have a few different types. the standard original lipkit with the liner and the gloss is amazing IMO. i get compliments every time i wear. it takes some getting used to cause its quite dry? but it works

    • eto says:

      Try The Lip Bar! They have great shades and it’s a minority-owned company. They were on Shark Tank and the judges looked down on them but they are doing well on their own now 😀

    • Persistent Cat says:

      Isn’t Seed Beauty the same one that makes ColourPop?

    • Anicia says:

      I’m 35. I tried my 19-year old sister’s Kylie lipkits and color me impresssed. I’m not easily impressed by hyped-up makeup but they’re really good.

    • Lyla says:

      I’m under 30 and I’ve never used it.

  2. Beth says:

    If Kims sex tape hadn’t been stolen, would anyone even know who Kylie Jenner is? If it wasn’t for that, none of the talentless people in the family would be worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Lucky break

    • Jenns says:

      Stolen? You mean sold? lol.

      And yes, her family connections got her where she is. I don’t consider that self-made.

    • Nickname says:

      First, that’s awfully sweet of you to call someone’s humiliation and invasion of privacy a “lucky break”. Second, making money is a talent and this family is doing so hand over fist. But being bitter is much easier than just admitting that Kardashian’s/Jenner’s are good at something.

      • jwoolman says:

        I saw the intro to Kim’s sex tape. It was made clearly with the intention to be publicized. Kim went right up to the camera and introduced herself by name. Who does that for a private tape?

        From an early age, Kim’s driving ambition was “to be famous”. That tape was just one step in pursuit of that goal. It was never intended to stay private and Kim did not feel at all humiliated by it. Her mother was the genius who actually managed to negotiate ongoing payments for its release, however, as well as editing privileges to get rid of parts she thought would be damaging. I don’t think Kim had actually thought about that being possible. She just wanted people to see it and make her famous.

      • Beth says:

        That was awfully sweet of Kims mother to sell the rights of the “private” sex tape. If Kris was a decent person, she wouldn’t have used that humiliating invasion of privacy to make her family world famous and make millions off of marketing her family

      • pk says:

        @ Beth – Kim is the one who signed the papers, not her mom.

      • josephine says:

        Humiliation? You do realize that there are in the business of humiliation? They humiliate themselves repeatedly for entertainment. I will say this — they really pushed the humiliation for profit method of making money. But there’s nothing the least bit admiral about that. Zero contribution to the world.

      • Bitsy says:

        @NICKNAME you’re darn straight making money is a talent. I long ago stopped judging because for what? I can’t think of one millionaire that’s a morally altruistic businessman nor one that is all that moral in their private lives. What I learned about success growing up is polar opposite to what I learned on the job out of college. My experience was very Devil Wears Brooks Brothers, and I quickly discovered that the top dogs were cutthroat and underhanded. But if you can be that way with a smile and charm, I’ll respect you. Kindness is truly a virtue. And the Jenner family all come off as charming and kind on a surface level. So more power to them…. I’m taking notes.

      • Sarah says:

        Kris negotiated the release of that tape herself…puleeze.

      • Rescue Cat says:

        ‘I saw the intro to Kim’s sex tape. It was made clearly with the intention to be publicized. Kim went right up to the camera and introduced herself by name. Who does that for a private tape?’

        No response to that, Nickname?

      • JeanGrey says:

        THIS! They even put a soundtrack to the video. You can LITERALLY see her and Ray J in a studio engineering the audio for it. Anyone who thinks Kim and Ray J were victims here are naive or serious stans of Kim and don’t want to admit she co-executive produced the video with Ray J for public release. She was working the Paris Hilton formula for success at the time. She saw how well these leaked vids worked for Paris and Pamela Anderson and wanted to cash in. No one whose actually seen the tape buys that this was done/released without her consent or knowledge.

    • sara says:

      Stolen? Her mother sold it.

    • Noodles says:

      You’re right that a huge part of this is down to luck. If she wasn’t well known already from the TV show and if she wasn’t young and stunning, nobody would have bought her cosmetics. That doesn’t change the fact that she’s a very young woman and a mother who is about to make history in a list which is really male dominated.

    • Happy21 says:

      Pam & Tommy’s tape was ‘stolen’. Kim’s was sold.

      • KB says:

        I think Pamela Anderson was the last celebrity sex tape to actually be released without her consent, right?

        Did Paris sign off on hers? I think she has denied being compensated for it, but I don’t think that would have been legal at the time. It was sold commercially after it leaked on the internet, and I think she’d have to at least consent to that.

        ETA: I just looked it up, Paris did allow it to be released and distributed after it leaked online. It leaked right before The Simple Life premiered, so…

      • Jadedone says:

        Colin Farrell had a sex tape actually stolen and he sued so that it wouldnt be released. Paris and Kim signed off and directly profitted from it.

      • Alissa says:

        honestly? it was already out there, might as well make money off it.

        I don’t think they leaked it, but I do think they decided to profit from it and I honestly can’t be made at them leveraging that into being millionaires. I also don’t think there’s any thing inherently bad about becoming famous for a sex tape.

        I do wish that people would stop touting the famous for nothing thing. The only one who doesn’t do much as Kourtney, but the rest of them have clothing and makeup lines that actually do pretty well. Get over it, they make money.

    • KB says:

      Kim settled with Vivid and allowed the tape to be released in 2007. She was paid millions for it. She could have stopped the tape from being released. And there are a lot of rumors that she was behind the initial leak as well.

      • pk says:

        Kim still makes money off her tape every time it is purchased. That was part of the deal. In past years, whenever she put out a nude selfie the sales of her sex tape would go up. I don’t think she has that power now though…people got bored.

    • marysia says:

      it goes even further, when Bulls got to chose OJ Simpson to play for them, then OJ kills his wife, Robert Kardashian is on his legal team and gets media exposure.
      So basically it’s on OJ Simpson that Kardashians are famous.

      • Christin says:

        First time I ever saw Kris was when she did TV interviews after Nicole (who was supposedly her friend).

        Bruce was the known name at the time, and he sat with her during those appearances.

        You have a point about the OJ connection.

      • Anika says:

        No. The whole OJ scandal began in 1994 and the trial (with Robert Kardashian) was in 1995. The Kardashians themselves did not begin to be famous or to be media exposed until 2005—ten years later. There was NO publicity about the rest of his family till then. R Kardashian having worked w O.J. Simpson was NOT what brought original media attention to the Kardashian family.

      • Anika says:

        No. The whole OJ scandal began in 1994 and the trial (with Robert Kardashian) was in 1995. The Kardashians themselves did not begin to be famous or to be media exposed until 2005—ten years later. There was NO publicity about the rest of his family till then. R Kardashian having worked w O.J. Simpson was NOT what brought original media attention to the Kardashian family.

    • Ronaldinhio says:

      It is nonsense to suggest that this family’s fortune is down to luck.
      I know they might seem distasteful to you. I know it might not be work as you know it BUT it isn’t luck.

      With Kris at the helm they have constantly hustled to make hugely lucrative deals and to leverage their followers into a financial return

      They are incredibly savvy and shrewd

    • Andrea says:

      You can’t say their talent less. You don’t have that kind of success without talent. It may not be what people consider a traditional talent or learned trade. But this family is very good at marketing and branding. They had the foresight to understand the potential of social media and created many companies. Kylie’s success is because of her social media presence and she’s good at it. If your an entrepreneur it is recommended to take work shops on social media and the impact it will have on your business. Its a game changer and traditional print and TV marketing will never be the same and i would say probably a dying industry. I hate when people use Kim’s sex tape to discredit what this family has accomplished. Yes. the tape got them the initial exposure. But that can easily disappear without putting in the work and taking risks. They tapped into reality TV when it was just becoming popular. This is not just luck. This family is strategic and i love that the head of this family is a women.

      • noway says:

        I agree, but I think the strategic one is really just Kris. She will market this whole family. Next we get the grand kids. Just wait.

  3. Killjoy says:

    It may be an unpopular opinion, but I love it. I was classmates with Evan Speigel (Snapchat), and when Kylie briefly tanked the stock, I seriously saw it as a victory for the demographic companies like Snapchat depend on, but whose leaders personally often dismiss. Young women and makeup are seen as frivolous — tech bros are seen as geniuses. I haven’t bought any of Kylie’s cosmetics, but I did finally give in and buy some Fenty Beauty products. I like feeling like I’m supporting a woman-led business when I purchase things.

    ETA: But girls should still learn how to code. 🙂

    • xena says:

      This! Plus, I honestly thought she wouldn’t have to do anything with her life, I mean she allready had so much money from family business, but she still wanted to do her own thing and is actually successfull with it. And it is not that easy, I mean, it is not that there is no competition on social media.

    • Megs says:

      You make a good point! And I hate that I’m now in support of a Kardashian/Jenner. Ugh.

    • MakeHay says:

      Great point. The fact that she tanked Snap’s stock is another indicator of her very strong connection (envy of cosmetic giants) with her target market – bogan beauty millennials, I call them. Which is why I think these revenue figures are more or less accurate.

    • MakeHay says:

      I just came across this article. Apparently it shows women are better coders but we experience gender-based bias in coding work: https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2016/02/suck-it-dudes-science-proves-women-are-better-coders/
      I hope someone sends it to James Damore.

      • CK says:

        That would be a huge sacrifice. You couldn’t pay me to start a dialogue with James Damore. The wingnut welfare train has moved on to a new alt-right fixation to lionize and frankly I’m glad.

  4. savu says:

    It’s mostly young women (high school) with disposable income buying her stuff, too. In college we learned that’s one of the most coveted consumer groups, because they’ve got allowances or babysitting money and they’ll spend it on whatever they want. Plus she could have customers for life.

    • Alissa says:

      I’m thirty and know five other women who also buy her stuff. most high schoolers aren’t buying it because it’s too expensive. they want to though.

  5. Sam says:

    “Self made” sure lol, she’s messed with her face so much that if I didn’t know better I would think that she was 35+.

    • Clare says:

      Right? Child of multi millionaire parents with enormous amounts of acces whose starred in a crazy successful reality tv show…is not self made. Celebrate success sure but who are they kidding?

      • Tiffany :) says:

        Exactly. Money creates money. You don’t have to be “shrewd” to make more of it if you are coming from a ton of it. Heck, even if you don’t do a single thing with your money, it will earn you more (interest).

        A fool will make risky bets with their funds, true. But not making risky bets doesn’t necessarily make a person wise or savvy.

        This family has made a large part of their fortune flat out stealing from struggling artists and POC. I am not going to fawn over that and pretend it is a virtue or a sign of intelligence.

    • Queenb says:

      lol yes. Name me people who have it easier to start such a business than her. No one here would be talking about this if she wasnt a Kardashian.

      • Sue says:

        She isn’t a Kardashian. Caitlyn Jenner (formerly Bruce Jenner) spawned her.

        I wonder if Caitlyn uses her daughter’s lip kits?

  6. fortune100 says:

    Wow! Just goes to show college is not always necessary in this new society. How many people with expensive college degrees are still living at home, unemployed, on their parents insurance.

    I especially love the new push for “free college for everyone”. Don’t people understand that if everyone has a college degree that degree means NOTHING! Look how much a high school diploma will get you, and that is free thanks to taxpayers.

    Good for her! I love this new crop of women who are successful on their own terms!!! Say what you want, most people could not become as rich as k without some good business sense.

    • Sam says:

      They could become as rich as her if they (like her) started out rich and had good business advisors and that’s what I think she has – good advisors not good business sense all on her own. The advisors and the people who actually run the company are the ones that should be getting the credit here imo, I don’t believe for a second that she’s anything other than the just face of the company.

      • ChillyWilly says:

        Yep. I picture her whining “Mom, I wanna make lip gloss?” And Kris making a few calls to make it happen. Self made , my ass. I have heard Kylie speak enough times to know she is dumb as a box of hair.

      • pk says:

        Same thing with Kendall. On an episode of their show Kendall tells her mom she wants to model. Literally the next day her mom tells her she got her a gig for Seventeen Magazine. Boom easy as that. I know the show is fake but I do believe it probably happened in a similar way.

      • Queenb says:

        Even the advisors have a way easier job when the brand has already been established. Selling to tens of millions of social media followers is a lot easier than building something from scratch, even if your family bank rolls you.

      • Andrea says:

        I don’t agree with you. She puts videos’s and picture out everyday many times a day. Some videos are makeup swatches and others are her talking and hanging out with her friends and family. She has a connection to her fan base and that is what makes her popular and successful. Does she have business advisers..absolutely. But so do most businesses. Part of success is knowing what your good at and what you should pay someone else to do.

      • Tiffany :) says:

        She also puts out images and products stealing the work of struggling artists and people of color, and pretends it’s her own creation.

    • minx says:

      Kylie isn’t a self made person, she came from a very rich family.
      And I will never knock education.

      • Trillion says:

        Thank you! It’s as if, for some people, the primary purpose of education is to make loads of money. Let’s pull back for a larger look: It’s as if making loads of money is the greatest goal in life. Kylie is selling extreme superficiality, wastefulness, insecurity. I’m not impressed.

    • KB says:

      A free college education would level the playing field so that nepotism and wealth wouldn’t reign supreme as they do now. Kylie is a product of her extreme privilege, not proof that a college education is useless.

      • minx says:

        Thank you.

      • CK says:

        It would level the playing field for those already with a set amount of privilege. It’s does nothing to remedy the already widening racial/class/gender disparity when it comes to being prepared to get into college. And that’s not even getting into the the potential effect on private colleges that tend to fill in the gap for those students (i.e. private women’s colleges, HBCUs, etc.) who are rejected/waitlisted because of lack of seating and what happens if they financially become less preferred (paying students being filtered into state institutions)

        Make no mistake, I’m for “free college”, but not if it doesn’t include an overhaul/increase/change in k-12 education, admissions processes, and funding to level the playing field so that it’s just not middle class, white kids whose parents can afford to live in better neighborhoods (with better funded schools) that gain access to the free college that we are all paying for. Otherwise, it’s just another benefit on top of those already received at the expense of those without.

    • Queenb says:

      Free has nothing to do with skill. It only means that rich people have an advantage.

      You are right with the opinion that more college degrees flood the market and devalue them. The solution to that is to make it more difficult to get into it, by academic standards. Not keep people out because they cant afford it.

    • OriginalLala says:

      free college tuition doesnt mean everyone can go…maybe look into how free college education works, there are pretty high standards of admission….

    • Shannon says:

      Of COURSE you don’t need to go to college when you’re born rich? For the majority of us who *aren’t* born rich, trade school or college are good options. Most kids don’t have the connections, money or unearned fame to get something like this to take off. I’m happy for her and all, but she is NOT ‘self-made’ and she is in no way and example of ‘why kids don’t need college.’ Calling her ‘self-made’ is like calling Donald Trump ‘self-made.’ Being born rich is not self-made, end of.

    • jwoolman says:

      A college education doesn’t become less valuable because more people have one. That extra brain exercise and exposure to more knowledge and ways of thinking and practice reading difficult texts and writing coherently all remain with you and are still valuable.

      A college degree does become more of an entry-level requirement for jobs as it becomes more common, but so does the knowledge etc. that comes with it. Most high school diplomas are becoming less useful in the job market because they just don’t bring you to the level needed for many kinds of work today.

      Learning how to learn complicated things is the real asset. Most people don’t do that well on their own. Even those who are good at learning on their own typically have huge gaps in their knowledge that could be fixed with some formal education. My mother couldn’t afford college, but she did a lot of self-learning and took some courses later. So she kept growing but she would have really benefitted from a college education.

      The Kardashian/Jenner women are a good example of the limits of a high school education, especially the slap-dash approach they mostly took. Without Kris (who is a natural evil genius), most of them would be just coasting on what they inherited. Money attracts money, but Kris really made things happen. Khloe especially has blown so many opportunities because she refuses to learn new things. She consistently thinks she just has to be herself, but that is not enough. Kim is like a chameleon, usually changing herself to match whatever man she is with with some odd results. She doesn’t strike me as really smart on her own. She needs her mom. She traded up to marry control freak Kanye because she realized he had connections she could use to pursue her dream of being famous. Kylie seems especially dependent on her mom and just floats. She likes cosmetics, but she really doesn’t have the basic knowledge to start and run a business. They seem so stuck with each other in a toxic relationship and also stuck in perpetual adolescence.

  7. Red says:

    I hate the saying “laughing all the way to the bank”. It sounds like money should be the bottom line and if you’re earning it, then nothing else matters. I would love to be rich and never have to stress again about finances. But I’m also glad I was born into a family that didn’t tell me my looks were everything. That didn’t sell my life as a storyline since I was a child. I know who my real friends are. She’s crazy rich yet I still pity her.

    • Chrissy says:

      Exactly. She never looks happy and she wasn’t even allowed to grow up out of the spotlight because her mother sold out all her daughters for fame and money. I pity Kylie and her daughter. Money isn’t everything especially without self-respect.

    • MakeHay says:

      Well said. Very dysfunctional upbringing to say the least. I remember Kylie and Kendall saying they ran off to their bedrooms when their parents announced (on camera) they were divorcing. This was so they could cry without it being included in their show.

  8. Diane says:

    I’m just happy when my grandma gives me 20 bucks for my birthday

  9. me says:

    I don’t think we can actually call her “self-made”. Her family was rich and famous BEFORE she started her make-up line. She’d be “self-made” had she truly started from the bottom with no family name and TV show to help promote her make-up. She already had a huge following before starting her company. The people buying her products are girls who think they can achieve those big lips with just lip liner lol thanks to Kylie LYING.

    • MrsPanda says:

      I totally agree me, I came to make the same comment. She simply leveraged the Kardashian brand and used their existing infrastructure. Kris got it started with the Reality show so many years ago, then I believe Kim K led the others in terms of social media presence (instagram, snapchat, etc). Kylie watched closely and obviously learnt (and copied) Mum & sister. She’s not self made and whilst Kris is the devil incarnate, she’s the one who deserves accolades for business success. Kylie has taken it and run with it which is wonderful, she’s good at promoting her brand but she has help with that too. Makeup artists, stylists etc, she is the exact opposite of self-made!

      • someone says:

        None of her sisters is as wealthy as her though. I don’t watch kardashians but remember watching a snippet somewhere of her as a teenager talking about being a “personality”.I remmeber wondering what that meant, but clearly she did and hence the money. Granted, she already had a huge platform and success but even then, more power to her for getting this far.

    • Queenb says:

      NO ONE is self made. Everyone relies on other peoples work. Its an awful term like “pulling yourself up by the boot straps” . Kylie specifically tho certainly is so far away from self made I have no idea how they can seriously put these two things together on the cover.

  10. Meg says:

    This is ridiculous. I don’t believe these sales. Somebody is telling lies

    • Sid says:

      The idea that a company that is only two years old could have made $630 million in sales over that time is as eyebrow raising as it gets. I need to see some audited income statements before I believe that.

    • hogtowngooner says:

      I don’t know the specifics, but my friend used to work at Shopify (which is the sales platform for Kylie Cosmetics) and said that Kylie is far and away their top merchant.

  11. Jennifer says:

    I’m no fan of any of the Kardashians or Jenners, but way to go Kylie.

  12. Pam says:

    I really don’t believe it because Forbes isn’t always accurate. FORBES put Trump’s commerce secretary at 4 billion dollars only to find out years later that the man was never worth even 1billion. He lied to Forbes. So has Trump lied as well. He is not half as rich as Forbes put him to be. The Kardashians exaggerate their networth I really doubt that they are rich.

    • KB says:

      They’ve since said that they put him on the Forbes 400 list in 1982 with a net worth of $100 million when he was actually worth $5 million. If they’re relying on people self-reporting the truth, their estimations are useless.

  13. gf says:

    Good for her. Who gives a crap is she messes with her face or is a Kardashian. She’s still successful, this is what the article is about.

    • me says:

      Why do people call her a “Kardashian”? Last I remember she was a Jenner. Well she did lie about her lips to sell those lip kits didn’t she? She said her fuller lips were due to lip liner. Her lip kits sold millions and then she let the truth come out that she used fillers. That’s deceptive advertising.

      • gf says:

        I don’t really care but she has siblings that are Kardashian. Her fans don’t seem to care about her fillers and the products must be good if people tried them and continued buying them.

      • me says:

        Well Kylie Cosmetics is owned by ColorPop (a company that’s been around and already perfected the formulas Kylie uses). I still think lying to get young girls to buy your products was deceptive but hey, that’s what this family does best.

      • Persistent Cat says:

        Especially when you consider the price difference between ColourPop and Kylie Cosmetics.

      • me says:

        @ Persistent Cat

        Yes. It’s the same formula, just different packaging. It’s Kylie’s name that sells.

      • Marley31 says:

        If she was advertising her lip kit she could actually get suede for false advertising. She had millions of girls go out to buy them lip kits only to deceive them. My 13yr old was even believing she was telling the truth about her lip kits Untill one day we had a conversation and I sat her down and showed before and after picture of the Kardashians/jenner clan. I knew her lips were enhanced. As well as Kim ass. No matter how many xray she takes or how many times she say otherwise. And its funny Kim claims her ass was not fake but Khloe specifically left to get a fake ass. Its so funny how many lies this family ttys to sell at the expense of young girls.

  14. Mar says:

    I don’t get the Kylie obsession. I guess I’m alone

  15. Tw says:

    Kim is going to streak during the World Cup final to try to get the attention back on her.

  16. Other Renee says:

    She’s in the cover of Forbes and we are in our homes or offices reading about it and carping (myself included). Who’s the winner here?

    All those years of studying for multiple degrees and yet I have to be careful about money all the time. And this kid with no education is a billionaire and on the cover of Forbes. These are the kinds of things that make me feel badly about myself.

    • me says:

      But you (I’m assuming) weren’t born into fame and wealth like she was. I would rather have seen the “immigrant that’s taking on Elon Musk in space” on the cover…now that’s interesting.

    • perplexed says:

      I think she’s done well for herself, and I don’t begrudge her that, but I think it’s sort of strange she’s referred to as “self-made.” What does self-made mean exactly? Is it because she uses no advertising budget? I think it helps that she’s part of the Kardashian brand. She can now branch off from them, but who she’s connected to has helped her in terms of securing an audience. I get the impression her lip-kits might actually be good though.

    • Sue says:

      HA HA No kidding! You’re not alone, but I just tell myself, “Yes, but does she have any moral compass? Does she know what happens after you leave this Earth?” I have heard many times, “If you want to know what God thinks about money, just look at those who have it.” I can’t say I’ve met a nice, rich person, ever. Of course, it’s all relative: to the very poor in wealth in any given country, our lives are “wealthy.” Sigh. My, “in-my-head” inventions that could make me rich (so that I would give to the poor, right?)!

      PS She is sad, with weird plastic surgery, now mis-matched with a face that is morphing into old.

    • MakeHay says:

      Extreme cases like hers are carefully crafted clickbait (but I believe her figures are accurate) by magazines like Forbes. Most businesses have years of sweat and ingenuity behind them. Kylie has done so well because of infamy.

  17. Mego says:

    Good for her. Laugh at Kris all you want but she and her girls are very savvy business women who created a brand. Better than a bunch of men in suits profitting off of women.

  18. RspbryChelly says:

    If she had attempted to sell her lip-line with her thin micro-lips no one would have batted an eye. But bc her HUGE marketing ploy in the beginning was convincing young girls that it’s all about the lining that can make slit lips look plump & juicy she found a huge market. All she had to do was deny the fillers (which she did all day long) & convince them it was simply the lipstick…boom, sold. Now that she’s admitted to the fillers (once her line was on more stable foundation of course) people found they actually liked her product & kept purchasing it…but in true Kardashian/Jenner form, this all began w a big fat-lipped lie & they are indeed, laughing all the way to the bank

  19. Happy21 says:

    I loathe the Kardashian/Jenners BUT I will give Kylie a little credit here, she is really the only one who is making money with a product. They’ve all had their clothing lines, cosmetics, etc. but Kylie is actually big money. I would never say she’s self made but hey she’s doing very well. Hopefully she makes good investments because she’s going to need all that money when the kids who buy her stuff move on to something else.

  20. jwoolman says:

    It’s pretty ridiculous to call Kylie a self-made millionaire. She has no head for business but just does what her mom tells her to do. It’s like calling a rich kid with a trust fund a “self-made millionaire” because they get that kind of money from the trust fund.

    “Self-made” applies to people with real skills and talents that result in them making a ton of money. Her mother is the only “self-made” person in the family.

    • Chrissy says:

      And even Kris Jenner is not self-made. If she hadn’t married Robert Kardashian (of OJ fame) or Bruce Jenner (of Olympics fame), the chances of her building her empire would have been greatly diminished IMO. And her kids would be just like any other LA trust-fund kids. Her talent, when she was strapped for cash, was to monetize and profit from her daughters’ lives and sexuality. Not exactly a self-made Mother of the Year.

    • Betty Whoo says:

      I almost want to report your comment.
      Its Billionair, not Millionair, ok, sarcasm?

    • Snowflake says:

      I agree

  21. Ayra. says:

    This makes no sense. The numbers arent matching up. I have no doubt she made money, but this is ridiculous. And this is coming from someone IN the targeted demographics. People are simply not looking at Kylie cosmetics as much as before, maybe some beauty gurus, but you watch their reviews of YouTube and continue on with your day.
    1) FORBES said that they cant verify it. So they took PMK ( a known liar) word. The same person who said Khloe was making 1 million a day from her terrible jeans.
    2) Kris “leaked”last year that Kylie made 400 M from the lipkits,after 18 months of profit. This implies she made over 400 M in less than a year.
    3) her company’s profits have been in a steady decline since 2016. In 2017, they made 7% of what they initially made. In 2018, it was proven that traffic dropped, she even started doing BOGO. The profits dipped over 30%.
    4)Her company is under Seed Beauty, she doesn’t make 100% of the profits.
    5) They’re telling us Kylie’s company has made more profits than other major cosmetic brands, who are sold online and in-store. You can argue that they spend money on ads, but that still makes no sense.
    6) It was reported she was on track to becoming the billionaire by 2022. Which seemed slightly more logical.
    7) Forbes doesn’t have the best trackrecord with this.

    • Tiffany :) says:

      Great points. The article gave me a ton of questions, but you broke it down really well.

      • ME says:

        “What her half-sister Kim Kardashian West did for booty, Jenner has done for full lips”

        That sentence in the article really got to me. So Kim invented big butts and Kylie invented big lips. Ok.

    • minx says:

      Agree. Forbes is a magazine, they need circulation like everyone else.

    • noway says:

      Okay, I think Mama Kris is trying to sell the company and pulling a Casamigos Tequila sale. A lot of business people think Clooney’s Tequila sold too high, and I think Kris is trying to do this with Kylie’s cosmetic line. Strike while celebrity mania is at its height and most ridiculous. Kris is the master at this. Forbes loves this kind of publicity as it helps sell their magazines, so I wouldn’t hold too much stock in their numbers.

      One big missing question which Forbes just didn’t ask before evaluating is how much are they paying Seed Beauty to manufacture and ship the $300+ million dollar in sales a year. They said Kris was paid 10%, but what about Seed Beauty. These $29 kits how much does it cost to make and ship to customers. The reason large companies have their own manufacturing is because on a large scale it is less expensive. Outsourcing isn’t always the best thing. Also, just eliminating traditional advertising isn’t going to change the net costs of the product. Most large companies advertising/marketing budgets are 10% or less of gross sales. Still it’s amazing she is selling this much product through her own social media and spotify, even if the numbers are slightly exaggerated.

      Forbes knows evaluating a private company is difficult, as they have made many miscalculations before i.e. Trump. Just from the numbers above, if I had to make a guess the $60 million dividend Kylie gets is the net profit, and I wouldn’t be shocked if that was inflated too, as Kylie might be putting some back in the company. Still going with this figure, I’d estimate 2.5 times earnings (60 million above) and say $150 million, but if Mama Kris gets someone to pay almost a billion for it, good for her. Watch it be sold soon, with the same kicker as Clooney’s tequila, Kylie must be the spokesperson for it.

      • MakeHay says:

        The “made $300 million” or whatever figure is clearly revenue, not profit. Her margins are low anyway. She does pop-ups and I think most of her stuff are limited editions to excite demand. No shops and no customer-facing staff. I believe the figures are mostly accurate. 5% of her 110 million IG followers only need to spend $60 a year for her to hit 300 million in revenue.

        I’ve been curious about her figures from the start and did “research” on her IG and I’ve seen her rabid fans boast, with accompanying pics, of course, about buying kits or whatever in every single colour/variation. She has a solid market.

        And doesn’t Seed just manufacture the stuff for her? They’re basically a subcontractor for Kylie Inc and they don’t have equity in Kylie Inc. Of course she has to pay them for manufacturing the product but again, they’re talking about revenue or sales — so before-costs figures. The figures are more or less accurate, looks like.

      • noway says:

        I’m not saying she doesn’t make money and a large amount. Just not evaluating the company at 800 million. A company with $300+ million in gross yearly sales and $800 million assessment seems to me to be a high, especially with outsourcing the manufacturing and the delivery which is what Forbes said in the article. Plus they said all info came from her business manager Kris Jenner. Just if you are evaluating a company and you don’t give the net or gross profit, or even the profit margin and just evaluate off of gross sales it’s kind of crazy, but it looks good if you are floating a sale of the company. I think she is watch for it.

      • MakeHay says:

        Noway, I see, good point. I guess it’s based on another year of similar growth and her infamy as well — by Forbes. (Note Forbes once gave Elizabeth Holmes of Theranos a $4.5 billion valuation but that was technology no one but that WSJ journalist who wrote that first article and later the book even tried to understand.)

        Either way, 300 million in annual sales is insane for a two-year-old company or whatever it is. I’d actually bet they aren’t selling in the next five years (and if they sold PMK might not be getting anything as attractive of 10% of profits). Kylie is absolutely obsessed with makeup and they seem to have ambitions to hold on to it and see it to maturity. They have nothing to lose and everything to gain by holding on to it. The Forbes cover is good for raising brand profile further though.

    • Meh says:

      Good American jeans aren’t terrible. They’re comfortable and fit amazing.

  22. Persistent Cat says:

    “Kylie Jenner runs one of the hottest makeup companies ever.”

    Or is it just that her name is licensed out?

    • MakeHay says:

      She owns it, 100%. “Partners” like Seed are just subcontractor manufacturers who do runs for an agreed price and she can change manufacturers overnight if she wants to. She doesn’t have to manage the headache of the manufacturing side. She does the marketing and product development. She doesn’t even have retail shops; it’s mostly ecommerce with some popup stores. It’s a great business model, low cost and low risk, but they’re all still a blight on humanity culturally speaking, on balance.

      • Persistent Cat says:

        Sorry, what I mean was, she’s not going into the office on a daily basis, running board meetings, etc. She’s licensed out her name and other people are running it for her.

  23. Patty says:

    That whole cover is full of lies.

  24. pk says:

    How can you say she doesn’t spend money on advertising? Look at that “summer collection ad” on her instagram. She spent money on a photographer, stylist, hair, and make-up, and someone to photoshop it to hell. Also, that last pic of her in “boss” red lipstick is the SAME shade Youtuber Lilly Singh came out with years ago but called it “Bawse”. How original Kylie !

  25. JennyJazzhands says:

    I don’t believe it. I read the article and Forbes stated that they can’t verify kris’ claims.

  26. Rescue Cat says:

    Born on third base and thinks she hit a triple.

  27. Cle says:

    I wonder how many teenagers were yelled at by their parents after sneaking and buying this s**t. As a person who’s into green beauty right now I can only imagine what quality of ingredients she uses. Probably tons of silicone and toxic dyes

  28. CK says:

    As I’ve said before, I’m happy for her success because we can tax it to help others. Free college + universal healthcare rely on the idea that some folks are going to be extremely successful in their field (people are not sending their school teachers checks monthly) and can be taxed at a higher rate to provide for others.

    It does take money to make money, but the boost that nepotism gives doesn’t automatically mean one is going to be successful. No every famous child because a multi millionaire through means other than inheritance. Heck, of all the famous children trying to make it out of their parents/siblings shadow, I’d argue the Kardashian Jenners are the exception to the rule.

    And I say all that as someone whose feelings on the them range from extremely dislike (Kanye/Pinnochio Booty Khloe/Caitlyn) to midly annoyed(Kim, pre-SWFing Kim Khloe, Kris) to ambivalent (Kendall, Kylie) to who?( Rob, the other sister).

  29. Patty says:

    As Whitney said, show me the receipts. There’s a huge difference between having a company valued at a billion, having a billion in sales, and actually being a billionaire. From what I understand this is not a business that she built from the ground up but instead provided her name to a product that’s already in existence for a percentage of profits – highly unlikely that she’s on track to be a billionaire just based off sales for her “lip kits”.

  30. Betty Whoo says:

    Self Made billionair out of her Mothers kitchen??
    Im rolling my eyes so hard right now, they got stuck in the back of my head

    RayJ Made here (too)

  31. Lisa says:

    Oh. How… impressive?

  32. Crazy Cat Lady says:

    I am very glad to see a young woman succeed and be on her way to becoming a billionaire. Glad to see a young woman make her way to the top. For too long, women were treated like we are stupid. We are not!!!

  33. MakeHay says:

    I believe these numbers are more or less accurate. Her target market is what I call the bogan beauty market from the IG generation, a really weird generation. Just surfing through IG, I’ve seen these bogan beauties (over the top makeup; consistently showing more flesh than appropriate; basically Bella Thorne types who love that bling-bling, trashy look) boast about ordering her latest product in every colour or whatever. A lot of us are used to going into shops to buy lip colours, but these bogan beauties connect with Kylie and the Kardashians and Jenners in a way most of us don’t get. I think she even has a new type of eyelid liner; you put a big colourful line at the top of the “hollow” of your eyelid (https://www.instagram.com/p/BlBrwt6gLo-/?taken-by=kyliejenner). Really weird, over the top stuff but her rabid fans go for it. She gets millions and millions of likes for her pictures.

    She has 110 million IG followers. Say 10% spend just $60 on her stuff a year. She’s generated $600 mill in revenue in just one year. 5% spend the same amount and it’s $300 million in revenue. Again, I have seen on IG her followers instagramming their latest delivery of Kylie’s stuff and boasting they bought it in every single colour.

    Kylie and Kris have smart business strategists and lawyers around them, but I think Kylie in particular is really “passionate” about makeup among the K-J sisters and their target market CAKE on the makeup EVERY DAY so they buy a lot of it. In the end they’re all a blight on humanity but I believe the figures.

    • Kitty says:

      You do know she didn’t really have 110M followers. A lot are fake.

      • MakeHay says:

        Yes, but even at just 70% real followers (77 million), just 3% of those (2.31 million) who might be in the rabid-fan category spending $130 a year would get her to $300 million in sales.

  34. Littlefishmom says:

    Hate her all you want but truth be told, that’s pretty insane.

  35. Anare says:

    Good for her. She’s a budding Estée Lauder.

  36. Yes Doubtful says:

    I have a problem with her being deemed “self made”. It’s called nepotism. She would not be where she is without her family’s tv show. That’s like saying Tori Spelling is self made. I will give Kylie credit for making an empire of what she was already given though. I’m sure it’s driving Kim crazy that Kylie is replacing her as the most desired of the family.