We knew this was coming. Remember this?
People had a problem with the way Forbes described her. “Self-made.” As I said before:
I’m all for celebrating someone’s achievements and don’t begrudge anyone for being wealthy, BUUUUUUT I see why people are irritated. She wasn’t a total nobody who made something out of nothing (or very little). Not that it doesn’t count. She could’ve blown her fortune, I suppose. But the truth is, she got fake lips and capitalized on her garbage sister’s oily butt fame. I’m just saying, I understand the frustration. She came from a famous family. If she was a thin lips “nobody” who turned a cosmetic line into an empire, I’d be more impressed.
Whaddya know. I still agree with myself!
Again– all of that was last summer. She was only worth $900 million then. (“Only” LOLOL *sobs*). But now it’s official. She’s the world’s youngest billionaire.
In mid-November, Kylie Jenner marked a milestone moment with a visit to a strip mall. For the past three years, her Kylie Cosmetics had only sold its makeup online and briefly in pop up shops. But after signing an exclusive distribution deal with Ulta, the beauty retailer, Kylie Cosmetics was rolling its $29 lip kits—a matte liquid lipstick and matching lip liner—into Ulta’s 1,000-plus stores. And Jenner showed up to the Richmond Avenue Ulta in Houston to greet customers, sign autographs on lip kits and, of course, pose for selfies with her fans.
Over the next six weeks, Kylie Cosmetics sold $54.5 million worth of products in Ulta, according to estimates from Oppenheimer. “I popped up at a few stores, I did my usual social media—I did what I usually do, and it just worked,” she says.
Fueled in part by the Ulta expansion, Kylie Cosmetics’ revenue climbed 9% last year to an estimated $360 million. With that kind of growth, and even using a conservative multiple from the booming makeup industry, Forbes estimates Jenner’s company is worth at least $900 million. She owns all of it. Add in the cash Jenner has already pulled from the profitable business, and the 21-year-old is now a billionaire, with an estimated fortune of $1 billion. She’s the youngest-ever self-made billionaire, reaching a ten-figure fortune at a younger age than even Mark Zuckerberg (who was 23 when he hit that mark).
I have a confession to make. I never even THOUGHT about buying one of her lip kits until they popped up in Ulta. And yeah…I caved. I bought one, and I now own four. I’M SORRY I’M SORRY BUT I LOVE LIPSTICK AND HER’S ARE GREAT AND COME WITH MATCHING LINER AND SMELL LIKE FROSTING. And then she had a sale around Christmas on her website and I blacked out and next thing I knew I had one lip kit for me and another for my BFF Ashley. MERRY CHRISTMAS, I SUCKED HER IN TOO.
Expanding into Ulta was a smart business move. It got people– people like me– to buy her product for the first time.
I’m not a fan of the Kardashians or Jenners, but Kylie’s a billionaire so good for her. Whatevz. I wouldn’t necessarily call her “self-made,” but it is what it is. At the end of the day, I can sleep well knowing that an egg unseated her as having the most “likes” on Instagram.