Kylie Jenner, the ever controversial reality star, is 25 years old. She’s most likely spending it in style, whether that’s renting a $200 million superyacht or taking quick trips on her $73 million private jet.
Forbes previously declared Jenner the world’s youngest “self-made” billionaire at age 21, thanks to her makeup company, Kylie Cosmetics. But in a May 2020 investigation, Forbes went on to report that Jenner is not, in fact, a billionaire. The magazine said that Jenner has exaggerated the size and profitability of her business and misled Forbes and other publications since 2016.
Jenner founded Kylie Cosmetics in 2015 and claimed to have brought in $400 million in revenue in its first 18 months, per Forbes. In November 2019, Jenner signed a deal to sell a majority stake in her cosmetics company to beauty conglomerate Coty Inc. for $600 million, which valued the company at $1.2 billion.
But Forbes alleged that the company has never made as much money as the Jenners claimed, and that her business has suffered during the coronavirus pandemic. A representative for Jenner did not respond to Business Insider’s request for comment.
Despite her disputed billionaire status, Jenner has amassed a cosmetics empire, starred alongside her family in “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” as well as in her own spin-off show “Life of Kylie,” started a clothing line with her sister, and made millions promoting products on Instagram.
Here are all the ways Jenner has made her millions.
Katie Warren contributed to an earlier version of this article.
In March 2019, Forbes dubbed Kylie Jenner, then 21, the world’s youngest “self-made” billionaire.
At the time, Forbes estimated that Jenner’s company, Kylie Cosmetics, was worth $900 million.
That plus her personal earnings from the company brought her net worth to more than $1 billion, Forbes said.
Many criticized Forbes’ decision to call Jenner “self-made,” saying she was born into wealth and privilege. Jenner responded to the backlash in an interview with Paper magazine, saying, “The self-made thing is true” and adding that her parents “cut her off at the age of 15.”
A May 2020 Forbes investigation called Jenner’s billionaire status into question.
A follow-up report from Forbes later contended that the then-22-year-old was not, in fact, a billionaire. Per Forbes’ investigation in May 2020, Jenner and her mother and marketing manager, Kris Jenner, have exaggerated the size and profitability of her business and misled Forbes and other publications since 2016.
But Forbes concedes that Jenner is still a multimillionaire, now pegging her true net worth at $600 million as of June 2022.
At the time of the Forbes investigation, Jenner took to Twitter to slam the report. “I thought this was a reputable site… all I see are a number of inaccurate statements and unproven assumptions lol. I’ve never asked for any title or tried to lie my way there EVER. period,” she tweeted, also questioning Forbes’ “proof” of the claim that tax returns “were likely forged.”
“I can name a list of 100 things more important right now than fixating on how much money I have,” Jenner tweeted.
Jenner’s first job was on reality TV show “Keeping Up With The Kardashians,” which ended on its 20th season. She was nine years old when the first episode aired. A new version of the reality show from Hulu, “The Kardashians,” premiered on April 14, 2022.
Source: Business Insider
People reported in 2017 that the family collectively earned about $30 million per season of KUWTK, but it’s unclear exactly how much each family member made.
Source: Business Insider, People
Jenner also briefly starred in her own spin-off show, “Life of Kylie,” in 2017.
Source: Insider
In 2013, when Jenner was 15, she and her sister, Kendall, launched a clothing line called Kendall + Kylie for PacSun.
The brand expanded into more than 25 countries in 2019 and was sold in large department stores, including Macy’s, Neiman Marcus, and Saks Fifth Avenue.
Jenner has made the bulk of her fortune through her makeup company, Kylie Cosmetics.
The company originally launched as Kylie Lip Kits, not long after Jenner admitted to getting “temporary lip fillers,” in 2015.
The company claimed to have sold more than $630 million worth of makeup in its first two years, including an estimated $330 million in 2017.
Source: Forbes
The manufacturing, packaging, and sales of Kylie Cosmetics products are all outsourced to private companies, including Seed Beauty and Shopify.
Source: Forbes
And the financial and public relations aspects of the brand are handled by Kardashian-Jenner matriarch and Kylie’s mother, Kris Jenner, in exchange for a 10% management fee.
Source: Forbes
In 2018, Jenner claimed that Kylie Cosmetics was on track to bring in more than $300 million in revenue, partially thanks to an exclusive distribution detail with beauty retailer Ulta.
Forbes said in 2020 that in reality, financial documents show that the company sold closer to $125 million.
In November 2019, Jenner sold a majority stake in Kylie Cosmetics to Coty Inc. for $600 million, giving the company a $1.2 billion valuation.
Jenner announced at the time that Christoph Honnefelder would assume the role of CEO ofand. Jenner was previously CEO.
Per Coty’s press release announcing the deal in 2020, Jenner and her team would continue to lead “all creative efforts in terms of product and communications initiatives,” while Coty would lead the portfolio’s “overall” development.
In 2022, Anna von Bayern, Princess of Bavaria, was named the new CEO.
Much of Jenner’s work on Kylie Cosmetics takes place on social media. She frequently promotes the brand on her personal Instagram account.
“Social media is an amazing platform,” Jenner, who has more than 368 million followers on Instagram, told Forbes in 2019. “I have such easy access to my fans and my customers.”
Jenner also had lucrative endorsement deals with Puma and other brands.
Source: Forbes
She has endorsed products on Instagram from brands including Fashion Nova, SugarBearHair vitamins, and Adidas.
A 2018 report from social media insights firm D’Marie Analytics found that a single Instagram post by Jenner was worth $1 million in advertising.
Source: Insider
Although she has since shut it down, Jenner previously made money from her personal app, which launched in 2015 and made $105,170 on its first day.
The app offered “an exclusive mix of free and premium paid content from Kylie’s world, bringing you closer to her than ever before,” according to its description.
But at the end of 2018, Jenner announced she would stop posting to the app in 2019.
Despite agreeing to sell the majority of the company last year, Jenner told Forbes back in 2018 that she envisioned herself working there “forever.”
She told the magazine she would perhaps pass the business on to her daughter, Stormi, one day.
In September 2021, Coty announced a baby care products brand by Jenner called Kylie Baby.
In a press release, Coty introduced the brand as a line of “safe, gentle, clean, and conscious” products that are formulated to be “vegan” and “cruelty-free.”
is just one of several brands using Jenner’s name that aims to build off the success of Kylie Cosmetics, including Kylie Swim and Kylie Skin.
Source: Business Insider
Jenner is splitting a nine-figure salary with her family through Hulu’s “The Kardashians.”
Disney previously announced in a press release that the Kardashian-Jenners signed a multiyear contract with the company to produce “new global content that will stream exclusively on Hulu.”
After details emerged that the family was pursuing a new iteration of their hit reality TV series, Variety reported that the Kardashian-Jenners would be equally splitting a nine-figure salary for the Hulu show.
The first season of the series, more succinctly titled “The Kardashians,” premiered in April 2022.
Source: Business Insider, Variety
