(Photo: Forbes)

Kylie Jenner gets caught embellishing the truth about her finances

A lot of people questioned when Forbes named Kylie Jenner the world’s youngest ‘self-made’ billionaire in 2019 after owning her cosmetics company, Kylie Cosmetics, for three years. After further investigation into Jenner’s financial claims, Forbes realized that she embellished her personal wealth to increase the value of Kylie Cosmetics.

Earlier this year, Jenner sold 51% majority of shares to the luxury goods maker, Coty Inc., and the deal also revealed an official report of the company’s finances. This report revealed that Jenner was inflating the success and size of her business finance reports for years.

Coty’s deal was valued at $1.2 billion for 51% of Kylie Cosmetics in January. Officially Kylie was a billionaire before the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Over the last six months, filings released by publicly traded Coty reveals that Jenner’s business is less profitable and smaller than she had other beauty brands and media outlets believe.


Jenner also took extreme measures to convince Forbes of her wealth including inviting Forbes to her mansion and the company’s CPA offices, even providing tax returns that are expected to be forged. Forbes now reports that Jenner is in-fact not a billionaire, even with the estimated $340 million after taxes from the sale to Coty.

The original success of Kylie Cosmetics was undeniable, selling out collections only minutes after launching. When Coty announced their deal with Kylie Cosmetics for $600 million, the company was valued at $1.2 billion which appeared to be Jenner’s worth.

Jenner had Forbes believe that the business generated $360 million but financial records it was only $125 million in 2018. Kylie Cosmetics’ online sales experienced a 62% decline between its successful launch in 2016 to a shrinking business by 2018.

Coty is also working on restructuring the cosmetics group with a new CEO, Peter Harf, that will be replacing Pierre Laubies. Jenner’s Forbes title is retracted and the future of Kylie Cosmetics in unclear.