Kylie Jenner arrives for the 2018 Met Gala on May 7, 2018, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. - The Gala raises money for the Metropolitan Museum of Arts Costume Institute. The Gala's 2018 theme is Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination. (Photo by ANGELA WEISS / AFP)
Cover (Image: Angela Weiss/AFP)

The 22-year-old founder of Kylie Cosmetics has been accused of spinning a “web of lies” and inflating the value of her company

Kylie Jenner isn't a billionaire, after all, Forbes magazine said on May 29 as it accused the reality TV star's family of "inflating the value of her cosmetics business for years."

Forbes declared the 22-year-old a billionaire in March 2019 owing to the popularity of her Kylie Cosmetics brand but has removed her from their list, citing new information.

Jenner sold a 51 per cent stake in her brand to beauty giant Coty in January for US$600 million in a deal that valued the company at US$1.2 billion.

Forbes said in an article published on its website that the fine print of the deal reveals that the business is "significantly smaller and less profitable" than they were led to believe. It also accused the famous family, of which Kylie is the youngest member, of creating tax returns that were "likely forged."

"(The) unusual lengths to which the Jenners have been willing to go... reveals just how desperate some of the ultra-rich are to look even richer," the magazine wrote.

It said the new information and the impact of Covid-19 on beauty sales led them to believe she is not a billionaire, even although she pocketed an estimated US$340 million after taxes from the sale. 

Tatler Asia
Kylie Jenner arrives at the Costume Institute Benefit at The Metropolitan Museum of Art May 2, 2016 in New York. / AFP PHOTO / TIMOTHY A. CLARY
Above (Image: Timothy A. Clary/AFP)

She's not far off though: Forbes estimates that Jenner's personal fortune is just under US$900 million.

Jenner hit back at the magazine on Twitter, accusing it of "a number of inaccurate statements and unproven assumptions."

"I've never asked for any title or tried to lie my way there EVER. period," she wrote.

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