Kim Kardashian Nearing Billionaire Status

Kim Kardashian is well on her way to billionaire status after inking a deal to sell a 20 percent stake in her cosmetics company to beauty giant Coty for $200 million. The deal, announced Monday, valued KKW Beauty, known for contour and highlighting sets, at $1 billion, which Forbes estimates makes Kardashian worth about $900 million.

In addition to her beauty empire, the Keeping Up With the Kardashians star has made a fortune on her family’s reality series, as well as numerous brand partnerships, her shapewear brand SKIMS and her mobile game Kim Kardashian: Hollywood. The Coty acquisition, set to close in 2021, will leave Kardashian as the majority owner of KKW Beauty, with Forbes estimating she will still own 72 percent of the company, with momager Kris Jenner believed to own 8 percent.

“Kim is a true modern-day global icon,” Coty chairman and CEO Peter Harf said in a statement. “This influence, combined with Coty’s leadership and deep expertise in prestige beauty will allow us to achieve the full potential of her brands.” Kardashian will retain creative control of the company, Harf assured.

While Forbes has put Kardashian still $100 million away from billionaire status, her husband, Kanye West, appears to be celebrating the milestone already. After the deal was inked, West tweeted out his congratulations to his wife, saying “God is shining on you and your family.”

If Kardashian makes it to the official billionaire line, she will be the first KUWTK star to be officially declared a billionaire. That title used to belong to little sister Kylie Jenner, who was named the “youngest self-made billionaire” by Forbes in March 2019 due to the success of her Kylie Cosmetics line. Last month, however, the magazine rescinded the title, claiming the makeup mogul’s team had misrepresented her financial status in a report titled “Inside Kylie Jenner’s Web of Lies – and Why She’s No Longer a Billionaire.”

“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 publication wrote. Jenner denied lying about her finances on Twittter, writing, “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. I’ve never asked for any title or tried to lie my way there EVER. Period.”