At a mere 21 years old, Kylie Jenner is officially the world’s youngest self-made billionaire, according to Forbes magazine. And she got there faster than the previous title-holder, Mark Zuckerberg, who reached the milestone at age 23. It also means she’s worth more than her family, including sisters Kim, Khloé, Kourtney, Kendall…and, yes, even momager Kris.
The bulk of Jenner’s worth comes, of course, from her mega-successful Kylie Cosmetics brand, which expanded via an exclusive deal with Ulta last year. Forbes notes that over the first six weeks at Ulta, Kylie Cosmetics sold $54.5 million worth of products. Based on (conservative) projections, they estimate that Kylie Cosmetics is worth $900 million—and Jenner owns the entire company. Adding in the cash that she’s already made, Jenner is a billionaire. “I didn’t expect anything. I did not foresee the future,” she told Forbes. “But [the recognition] feels really good. That’s a nice pat on the back.”
No matter your opinions on the Kardashian-Jenners, that’s incredibly impressive. But what many are taking issue with online is the designation of Jenner as “self-made,” given the rich and famous family that she comes from. (You may remember a similar conversation last July when she was almost to the billion-dollar mark.)
“She founded the company. She started the company with money that she made—$250,000 from modeling,” Kerry Dolan, the assistant managing editor of Forbes explained on Today. “She owns 100% of it. We know she comes from a wealthy family, but she started the business and she owns it so, in our books, she’s self-made.”
Some people on the Internet felt differently, of course. “‘Self-made’ is so delusional too,” wrote one Twitter user. “She certainly had a head start with money in this world, every resource already at her fingertips, and a mighty nice cushion of money to fall back on had she failed. Someone like Mark Z actually innovated and created his place in the world.”
But Jenner has defenders, too. “Kylie Jenner made most of her money on her own,” said one on Twitter. “She has a business mind and honestly, has worked her ass off. Just because you come from spotlight doesn’t mean the spotlight made you. Lot of entrepreneurs out there that came from multimillionaire /billionaire parents who weren’t.”
Whether you want to categorize Jenner’s success as “self-made” or not, there’s really no denying the magnitude of it.