Kylie Jenner stripped of Forbes ‘billionaire’ status and accused of lying about net worth

Kylie Cosmetics founder says: ‘All I see are a number of inaccurate statements and unproven assumptions’

Forbes has claimed that Kylie Jenner is not a billionaire in a new report, in which the outlet also accuses the makeup mogul of “inflating the size and success of her business”.

In the report titled: “Kylie Jenner’s Web of Lies”, published on Friday, the outlet references documents it obtained from Coty, the company which purchased 51 per cent of Jenner’s beauty brand Kylie Cosmetics in November 2019 for $600m.

According to Forbes, which declared Jenner the “world’s youngest self-made billionaire” in March 2019, the documents reportedly show Jenner’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”.

Explaining that the revenue numbers for Kylie Cosmetics don’t add up, the report states: “The business was never that big to begin with, and the Jenners have lied about it every year since 2016—including having their accountant draft tax returns with false numbers—to help juice Forbes’ estimates of Kylie’s earnings and net worth.”

Forbes also referenced its own dealings with the Kardashian-Jenner family, and the “unusual” lengths they took to convince the outlet of Jenner’s net worth, including “inviting Forbes into their mansions and CPA’s offices, and even creating tax returns that were likely forged”.

“While we can’t prove that those documents were fake (though it’s likely), it’s clear that Kylie’s camp has been lying,” the report stated.

Additionally, the outlet alleged that Jenner and her mother, Kris Jenner, purposely hid the fact that Kris reportedly owns a small share in the company, and that the 22-year-old’s share is just 44.1 per cent, rather than 49 per cent.

The report concluded that, after “taking all this new information into account and factoring in the pandemic,” Jenner is “not a billionaire”.

“A more realistic accounting of her personal fortune puts it at just under $900 million, despite the headlines surrounding the Coty deal that seemed to confirm her billionaire status,” Forbes wrote.

Jenner addressed the report on Friday on Twitter, where she accused Forbes of “inaccurate statements and unproven assumptions”.

“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,” the Keeping Up with the Kardashians star wrote.

In follow-up tweets, Jenner quoted the report and questioned the validity of Forbes’ proof, before telling her more than 33.7m followers that there are “things more important right now than fixating on how much money I have”.

She tweeted: “‘Even creating tax returns that were likely forged’ That’s your proof? So you just THOUGHT they were forged? Like actually what am I reading.

“But okay. I am blessed beyond my years, I have a beautiful daughter, and a successful business and I’m doing perfectly fine.

“I can name a list of 100 things more important right now than fixating on how much money I have.”

Jenner’s attorney, Michael Kump, also rejected the findings described in the report, telling People it is “filled with outright lies”.

“Forbes’ accusation that Kylie and her accountants ‘forged tax returns’ is unequivocally false and we are demanding that Forbes immediately and publicly retract that and other statements. It is sad that, of all things, Forbes has devoted three reporters to investigate the effect of the coronavirus crisis on Kylie’s net worth,” Kump said. “We would not expect that from a supermarket tabloid, much less from Forbes.”

In a statement to The Independent, a spokesperson for Forbes said its reporters spent “months uncovering the facts”.

“Today’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,” the spokesperson said. ”Our reporters spotted the inaccuracies and spent months uncovering the facts.”