KIM KARDASHIAN JOINS THE BILLIONAIRE CLUB

Wed 07 April 2021:

Kim Kardashian has added billionaire to her resume.

The cosmetics and shapewear businesswoman, who launched her career off the reality TV series “Keeping Up with The Kardashians,” was included on Tuesday for the first time on Forbes magazine’s list of the world’s billionaires.

Her net worth reached $1bn (£720m) thanks to her cosmetics and clothing interests as well as income from TV, endorsement deals and investments, Forbes business magazine says.

She is now one of the 2,755 figures on Forbes’ World’s Billionaires List.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos leads the pack with a net worth of $177bn.

The Forbes estimate means Kardashian joins her soon-to-be ex-husband Kanye West in the billionaire’s club. Forbes on Tuesday estimated West’s net worth at $1.8 billion, mostly from deals on his Yeezy sneaker and fashion line.

Forbes calculated that the 40-year-old’s worth had risen to $1bn from $780m in October thanks especially to her stakes in the KKW Beauty cosmetics business and the Skims shapewear company.

KKW Beauty was launched in 2017 and Skims just two years ago after the initial brand name Kimono was dropped following accusations of cultural appropriation.

Ms Kardashian West sold 20% of KKW Beauty to cosmetics giant Coty last year for $200m, in a deal valuing the business at $1bn.

Kardashian filed for divorce from West, 43, in February, citing irreconcilable differences.

Her half sister Kylie Jenner, however, lost her billionaire status, Forbes said on Tuesday. It valued the 23-year-old’s fortune at around $700 million, citing a tough year for cosmetic sales during the coronavirus pandemic and what it said were previous overestimates of revenue from Kylie Cosmetics, now 51% owned by Coty Inc .

Kardashian founded KKW Beauty in 2017, promoting and selling the products online, helped by a social media presence that includes some 213 million Instagram followers. She launched the multihued shapewear line Skims in 2019.

Kardashian celebrated on Tuesday by posting a photo of herself in a bikini on a beach, with the caption “Bliss” and announcing the launch of the first Skims pop-up shop at a high-end shopping mall in Los Angeles.

She first found fame in 2007 as the star of the E! Television reality series about her family, Keeping up with the Kardashians, and has remained hugely popular since.