Kylie Jenner is once again the youngest self-made billionaire in the world, according to Forbes’ annual list.
The publication recently announced the most successful entrepreneurs under the age of 30 and the makeup mogul topped the list. Jenner was first given the honor in March 2019 after her brand, Kylie Cosmetics, brought her $1 billion. This year, Jenner cemented her billionaire status with the launch of Kylie Skin and the continued growth of Kylie Cosmetics. Forbes also shared that Jenner’s latest power move was what brought her to the No. 1 spot once again in 2020. The Keeping Up with the Kardashians star inked a deal with Coty back November 2019, which was made official in January 2020. The deal gives Coty a 51 percent stake in Kylie Cosmetics, with Jenner keeping 40 percent, which will allow her to keep creative control of the brand. The agreement allowed Jenner to sell the company for $600 million.
Jenner, 22, launched Kylie Cosmetics in 2018. She then signed a deal with Ulta Beauty to have her line sold exclusively in its stores and online. The deal with Ulta Beauty brought the then-20-year-old’s net worth to $900 million. Hollywood Life reports that the Ulta deal was what first had Jenner on Forbes’ list of business owners to watch. The publication put Jenner on the cover of a 2018 issue and predicted that she would beat out Mark Zuckerberg for the title of the world’s youngest self-made billionaire. Zuckerberg was 23-years-old when he became a billionaire, while Jenner was only 21-years-old.
Jenner’s status as a self-made billionaire has been debated since Forbes made the announcement last year. While Kylie Cosmetics was founded by the mother of one, she had been in the public eye since she was young. Her sisters and her mother, Kris Jenner, also had a plethora of successful businesses that they began prior to Jenner launching her own company. Although she had gained notoriety on reality television and on social media prior to going into business for herself, Jenner funded her cosmetics line herself back in 2014. After being known for her overlined lips on Instagram, Jenner used the money she made through modeling to pay a company to create lip kits for her. The Kylie lip kits, which were set at $29, sold out just minutes after being released.
Unsurprisingly, the conversation about Jenner being self-made continued after it was announced that she topped Forbes’ list for the second time. Many Twitter users argued that Jenner isn’t deserving of the title due to her family’s fame.
“The fact that @Forbes is still calling @KylieJenner a ‘self-made’ billionaire really has me discrediting every they have ever written about…. ‘self-made. adjective. Having achieved success or recognition by one’s own efforts’ IT DOESNT COUNT WHEN U WERE BORN WITH OVER A MILL,” one commenter wrote.
“She is ‘self-made’ but like literally couldn’t have been any easier for her,” another user shared.
“She is NOT self-made,” one person tweeted, followed by two laughing emoji. “That is so disrespectful to people coming from nothing that are actually self-made.”