Advertisement

Kylie Jenner jumps from reality star to youngest self-made billionaire

Kylie Jenner attends the Grammy Awards ceremony in February.
(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)
Share via

Kylie Jenner might be unlucky in friendship, but she sure is lucky in business. The Kylie Cosmetics makeup mogul has again proved her business acumen to become the world’s youngest self-made billionaire, according to a new Forbes report.

The 21-year-old “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” star was given the title on Tuesday, when the financial magazine published its list of the world’s richest people. She’s worth an estimated $1 billion, Forbes said, and unseated the previous record holder, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, who hit the milestone when he was 23.

To compare fortunes, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos’ is still tops, by the way, at $131 billion, followed by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, who checked out at $96.5 and $82.5 billion, respectively.

Advertisement

Jenner’s recent success is due in part to her makeup line’s expansion to cosmetics retailer Ulta. Her company is now estimated to be worth $900 million, and she owns all of it.

“I popped up at a few stores, I did my usual social media — I did what I usually do, and it just worked,” Jenner told Forbes. “I didn’t expect anything. I did not foresee the future but [the recognition] feels really good. That’s a nice pat on the back.”

Advertisement

Even among her wealthy family members, Jenner is still in rarefied company. Her older sister Kendall Jenner was named the world’s highest-paid supermodel of 2018 and made a meager $22.5 million during the magazine’s annual scoring period, compared with Kylie’s estimated $166.5 million for 2018, Forbes reported last December.

The news comes as Kylie Jenner, the younger sister of Kim, Kourtney and Khloe Kardashian, is embroiled in a cheating scandal that rocked the reality-TV family.

The Kardashian-Jenners have been making tabloid headlines for weeks after Jenner’s former best friend and business partner, Jordyn Woods, admitted to hooking up with Khloe Kardashian’s boyfriend, NBA star Tristan Thompson.

Advertisement

Though the family has severed ties with Woods — and Jenner swiftly slashed prices on their makeup collaboration — Khloe Kardashian accused her last week of breaking up the couple and then had a change of heart on Sunday.

Twitter: @NardineSaad

Advertisement