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Kylie Jenner responds to claims she faked her billionaire status

A new report from 'Forbes' believes that Jenner's earnings via Kylie Cosmetics have been inflated for years.

The Kardashian–Jenner family are keen on how to create an enviably unobtainable image for marketing's sake—but part of crafting their luxury image over the years may have included exaggerating the monetary earnings of one of their biggest business ventures: Kylie Cosmetics.
According to a new Forbes report, Kylie Jenner and her seemingly flourishing makeup company may not be as financially successful as they have been perceived to be in recent years. Based on newly obtained documents from Coty (the parent company that bought 51 percent of Kylie Cosmetics back in November 2019), the publication believes that Jenner and her mother and manager, Kris Jenner, not only inflated the success of the company, but they also concealed the fact that Kris owns a small share, decreasing Kylie's share hold of her namesake brand to just 44.1 percent, compared to the publicly acknowledged 49 percent.

"Forbes had been estimating that her business, which has little overhead, was notching 44% net margins. But Coty's filings indicate that Kylie's profits are likely lower than we figured, since her EBITDA margin—which factors in some, but not all, of her expenses—is only around 25%," read the report.

The publication also revealed that it was wary of the financial claims from Kylie Cosmetics from the start, alluding to the possibility of Kylie and her mother exaggerating the success of Kylie's business solely for the opportunity to market Kylie as the world's youngest self-made billionaire—more so than running the popular cosmetics company based on a sincere appreciation for beauty and cosmetics. According to the outlet, Jenner hosted Forbes' staff multiple times at her Hidden Hills mansion to share supposedly inflated financial statements boasting the success of her daughter's business.

Per Forbes, Kylie's recalculated net worth is closer to $900 million, versus a true billion, with more than a third of that amount courtesy of her exuberant Coty deal.

Jenner responded to Forbes’ accusations with a slew of tweets on Friday, stating that she never claimed her supposed status as a billionaire and calling out Forbes’ report to be false and sloppily reported.

“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,” wrote Jenner on Twitter. “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.”

Fans were quick to criticise Jenner for the timing of her defensive tweets considering the current state of the country right now. Jenner clarified however, that she’s unbothered by the report and wants to focus on more pressing matters at hand.

“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,” continued Jenner. “This is literally the LAST thing I’m worried about right now.”

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