Forbes wipes billionaire title

Forbes magazine, which once declared Kylie Jenner a billionaire on its cover, says she no longer deserves the title. But Jenner is pushing back.

Forbes said in a story posted Friday that an examination of financial filings after the reality star and beauty mogul sold a majority share in her cosmetics company revealed that Jenner’s worth was inflated. Jenner sold 51 per cent of her Kylie Cosmetics company to Coty in a deal valued at $1.2 billion this year.

“Kylie’s business is significantly smaller, and less profitable, than the family has spent years leading the cosmetics industry and media outlets, including Forbes, to believe,” the magazine said in the story.

“Forbes now thinks that Kylie Jenner, even after pocketing an estimated $340 million after taxes from the sale, is not a billionaire.”

Jenner responded in a series of tweets, saying “what am i even waking up to. i thought this was a reputable site. all i see are a number of inaccurate statements and unproven assumptions lol. i’ve never asked for any title or tried to lie my way there EVER. period.”

She later tweeted: “i can name a list of 100 things more important right now than fixating on how much money i have.”

Jenner’s business and social media prominence have made her stand out even in the exceedingly famous family behind Keeping Up With the Kardashians. She is the younger daughter of Kris and Caitlyn Jenner, sister to Kendall Jenner and halfsister to Kim, Khloe and Kourtney Kardashian.

In March 2019, Forbes called her “the youngest self-made billionaire ever”. But on Friday, Forbes offered a starkly different headline: “Inside Kylie Jenner’s Web of Lies — And Why She’s No Longer a Billionaire.”

The story acknowledges the coronavirus crisis has hurt her net worth, but says “the Jenners have lied about it every year since 2016 — including having their accountant draft tax returns with false numbers

i can name a list of 100 things more important right now than fixating on how much money i have Kyle Jenner (above)

— to help juice Forbes’ estimates of Kylie’s earnings and net worth.”

The magazine said it cannot prove the documents were forged.

Jenner’s attorney says the story is “filled with outright lies”.

“We are demanding that Forbes immediately and publicly retract that and other statements,” said attorney Michael Kump.

Forbes spokesman Matthew Hutchison said the magazine’s “extensively reported investigation was triggered by newly filed documents that revealed glaring discrepancies between information privately supplied to journalists and information publicly supplied to shareholders. Our reporters spotted the inaccuracies and spent months uncovering the facts.”

The spat between Jenner and Forbes spilled over to Wall Street, where shares of New York-based Coty Inc fell more than 13 per cent on Friday.