Kylie Jenner risks becoming the youngest billionaire "self-made" ever | Fashion

Five years ago, Kylie Jenner was still in high school. Her media empire extended as far as occasional appearances on Keeping Up with the Kardashians and her Tumblr account, Kalifornia Klasss, where she published works by Roy Lichtenstein and photos of lions.

Today, Forbes Financial magazine estimates that she is worth $ 900 m, making her not only the richest member of the Kardashian-Jenner clan (Kim Kardashian West is worth about $ 350 million of dollars), but of course to become the youngest self-made billionaire ever created. Mark Zuckerberg, the current record holder, was worth $ 1 billion at the age of 23.

"Self-made" is the term used by Forbes to differentiate itself from those who inherited their wealth, but many wonder if it applies to Jenner, whose fame is entirely derived from the birth of the first American reality TV family.

A relatively small portion of Jenner's fortune, about $ 100 million, comes from endorsement contracts with Puma, PacSun, teas and other slimming products. as well as his appearances on two reality shows: Keeping Up with the Kardashians and his derivative series Life of Kylie. The remaining $ 800 million is the value of Kylie Cosmetics, the Jenner beauty company launched two years ago and owns it entirely.

Having made the headlines as a teenager for the use of lip implants, Kylie Cosmetics' first product was a combined lipstick and lip liner. Jenner told the Evening Standard that the product "was insecure and that I turned it into something." I was not sure of my lips, and lipstick is what "It helped me feel confident." When they went on sale, the kits sold out in 30 seconds.

Since then, the company has sold $ 630 million in make-up, largely through the presence She regularly publishes information and photos on new product lines for her 110 million Instagram followers and has become so dominant on social media that when she tweeted that she was not the only one on the web. Worried about Snapchat, the stock of its parent company lost 6% of its value in a day, about $ 1.3 billion.

The speed at which Jenner was able to accumulate wealth demonstrates the power of media mentions social and changing ways of celebrities acquies Rihanna, for example, has seen its net worth soar since it launched its own beauty lineup, Fenty Beauty. She is almost certain to make more money on the line than on musical or film projects.

Neither Jenner nor Rihanna have purchased cosmetic factories – their production is outsourced to other companies that follow the instructions of the stars. creation, marketing and distribution. This means that the continued success of the stars is entirely based on their ability to generate sales, and for Jenner, which has already begun to decline, the turnover has grown by 7% this year, a smaller increase than the year before. Recipes from lip kits have further decreased by about 35%.