Earlier this year, Kylie Jenner was named the youngest self-made billionaire by Forbes. Fast-forward to this week and the 22-year-old is about to become $880M richer.
Today, fragrance and cosmetics giant Coty Inc. announced they had purchased a 51% stake in Jenner’s beauty business, Kylie Cosmetics. According to Forbes, Ky’s deal with Coty will value her business at a whopping $1.2B, cementing her billionaire status.
Forbes adds that Jenner will “remain the creative lead on both product development and marketing initiatives, particularly on social media.”
It’s important to note Jenner’s involvement in the social media side of things. The brand’s official Instagram has racked up 22.4M followers since launching in 2015. I’m going to take a punt and guess the brand’s strong social media identity has a lot to do with Jenner’s equally-as-impressive 151M Instagram followers.
In 2018, Jenner told Forbes, “it’s the power of social media…I had such a strong reach before I was able to start anything.”
According to Insider, there are just seven companies who own 182 of the world’s most popular beauty brands. L’Oreal is the parent company of much-loved brands like Kiehl’s, Garnier, Maybelline and Urban Decay, and it’s a similar story for Johnson & Johnson, Shiseido, Estee Lauder Companies, Unilever, Procter & Gamble and of course, Coty, who own other celeb brands including Katy perry, Beyonce and David Beckham.
Insider says these conglomerates make billions of dollars each year and “also control advertising and the way we all think about beauty.”
If Jenner is handing the keys over to Coty, what will become of her empire? While it sounds like the reality TV mogul is keen to maintain creative input, will the brand be the same without her complete social media control?
Interestingly, Jenner told Forbes last year “maybe one day [I’ll] pass this on to Stormi, if she’s into it,” and added that she sees herself working on the brand “forever.” Will Coty’s involvement mean Jenner has as much say?
We’ll just have to wait and see. In the meantime, drinks are on you, Ky.