Kylie Jenner Named Youngest 'Self-Made' Billionaire — How Does She Rank?

Kylie Jenner is making headlines this week after Forbes named her the youngest self-made billionaire in history.

Jenner’s fans are cheering the accomplishment, while critics are highlighting her family’s wealthy background. Here’s a look at how Jenner made her $1 billion, and how she stacks up against the rest of an exclusive club. 

Jenner’s Path To $1 Billion

Jenner’s professional career started at an early age. After being featured in the family reality show “Keeping Up With The Kardashians,” Jenner snagged her first $100,000 endorsement deal with nail polish brand Nicole by OPI in 2013 at the age of 16. That same year, Jenner and her sister Kendall launched The Kendall and Kylie Collection through a deal with PacSun.

In 2014, at the age of 17, Jenner launched a shoe and handbag line with Steve Madden, Ltd. SHOO. 

In 2015, Jenner and her sister launched a clothing line with Topshop, and Kylie created her first ever lipstick line, Kylie Lip Kit. That same year, Jenner created a personalized website and released a new mobile app.

In early 2016, Jenner’s cosmetic company took on the name Kylie Cosmetics, and here business career began to really pick up steam.

Through a partnership with Ulta Beauty Inc ULTA, Kylie Cosmetics generated $360 million in revenue in 2018 and is now worth an estimated $900 million. This year, Jenner’s success with Kylie Cosmetics finally pushed her into the billionaire’s club at the age of 21.

While some Jenner fans took to social media to congratulate her on her accomplishment, others were critical of those describing her success as “self-made.” Jenners’ parents, Caitlyn and Kris, have an estimated combined net worth of around $160 million.

The website Celebrity Net Worth called out Forbes for inflating Jenner’s net worth, claiming the star’s actual net worth is between $300 million and $400 million.

“I'm not a Kylie Jenner hater. I just think it's sad that Forbes is stooping to clickbait headlines based on fuzzy math to to sell magazines and generate pageviews,” Celebrity Net Worth founder Brian Warner wrote in response to the Forbes news.

How Jenner Stacks Up

Assuming the Forbes numbers are correct and Jenner is actually worth $1 billion, she still has a long way to go to work her way to the top of the Forbes billionaires list.

Jenner may be the youngest billionaire on the list, but there are many other billionaires under the age of 30 that rank much higher on the wealth list than Jenner, who is ranked 2,057.

Gustav Magnar Witzøe is just 26, but is ranked 745 on the list with a net worth of around $3 billion. Lukas Walton, the grandson of Walmart Inc WMT founder Sam Walton, is just 33 but has a net worth of $15.2 billion.

Even among the world’s wealthiest women, Jenner has a wide gap to close to reach the top of the list. Francoise Bettencourt Meyers, the granddaughter of the founder of L’Oreal, is the world’s wealthiest woman with a net worth of $51.1 billion. The wealthiest American woman is Sam Walton’s daughter Alice, who has a net worth of around $44.4 billion.

And if Jenner wants to make it to the very top of the list of world’s wealthiest people, her journey is just beginning.

Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN CEO Jeff Bezos is the world’s richest person with a net worth of $131 billion. Microsoft Corporation MSFT founder Bill Gates is second with a net worth of $96.5 billion. Berkshire Hathaway, Inc (NYSE: BRK-A) (NYSE: BRK-B) CEO Warren Buffett is third with a net worth of $82.5 billion.

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Public domain photo via Wikimedia.