In the News: 21-Year-Old Kylie Jenner

For this blog, I referenced two different publications and guess what? Both used the adjective “self-made” in their headlines to describe Kylie Jenner. I think we all get the play on words when it’s in quote marks – as it was in the New York Post of 3/6/19. It’s been said over-and-over again that Kylie comes from a wealthy family.

Good point. But Kylie and Rob Kardashian both have the same mother and according to a report that I saw on the Web he is “broke and living with his mother.” The point I’m making here is that self-made in quotes is a put- down term that doesn’t apply here. In the Financial Times of 3/10/19 the headline: “A Self-made Make-up Mogul” is closer to the truth. 

I know very little about the Kardashian clan because I never watch the show – in fact, since all their names start with “K” I can barely tell which is which. However, when Kylie was named a billionaire by Forbes magazine it was time to sit up and take notice.

THE YOUNGEST EVER SELF-MADE BILLIONAIRE

At 21, she is two years younger than Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg when he achieved that valuation according to the Financial Times of 3/10/19 in an article written by US media correspondent, Anna Nicolaou.

Kylie started this venture at a very young age. At 16-years-old, she invested cash she made from modeling in a cosmetics line, which sold out within minutes. Her enterprising mother Kris Jenner, who collects a 10% fee to manage her children’s careers, spotted the opportunity to capitalize on Kylie’s stardom and arranged deals with suppliers and distributors.

I didn’t like some of the negative comments that appeared in the Financial Times so I wrote a Letter to the Editor – a week later it appeared in the FT   

Kylie Cosmetics runs a skeletal operation with only seven full-time employees. (Personally, I find this unbelievable – but I’m sure it’s true.) The nitty gritty of product manufacturing, logistics and sales are all outsourced, while her mother handles finances and publicity. The vast majority of marketing remains social media posts.

A reader across the Atlantic responded to my comments and the FT published it

WHAT ARE THESE POSTS LIKE?

Here’s an example: Kylie may post 21 “stories,” 15-second videos, to Instagram, promoting her latest lip glosses, painting each shade on her own famous lips. (And yes, she is very pretty.) These minutes have spawned hundreds of millions in sales. In three years, she has built a billion-dollar company with nearly zero traditional marketing.

Kylie struck gold on Snapchat, where she found her audience: teenage girls. She became a “Generation Z” star, relentlessly posting stray thoughts and daily tribulations in short videos. She became so closely associated with Snapchat that when she casually tweeted about her declining use of the app, the SHARES LOST $1.3 BILLION IN VALUE.

Now, she is the Kardashian clan’s chief moneymaker. As the reality show enters its 16th season, ratings have slid, but Kylie’s clout and her make-up brand have grown. She is now worth three times as much as her older half-sister Kim, according to Forbes.

 I decided to counter his argument once and for all – the Financial Times is an international daily newspaper headquartered in London

WHO ARE THE BIGGEST BILLIONAIRES?

#1

Jeff Bezos of Amazon is worth an estimated $131 billion (this may have changed due to his recent divorce – don’t worry, he’s still up there)

#2

Microsoft’s Bill Gates comes in at $96.5 billion

#3

Berkshire Hathaway’s Warren Buffett follows at $82.5 billion

#8

Mark Zuckerberg fell to #8 from #5 a year ago

That’s all, folks – I won’t be writing about billionaires in the near future. All of this is too rich for me.

UPDATE: Kim Kardashian West wants to be a criminal-justice lawyer

In the May 2019 issue of Vogue, p. 129 a question appears: “How does someone study law if they haven’t finished college? ANSWER: Four states, including California, offer another path to passing the bar – what is known as “reading the law,” or apprenticing with a practicing lawyer or judge. First, Kim will take what is known as “the baby bar” – if she passes she will go on for three more years of study. Makes perfect sense: her father was a famous lawyer.

Shaun Nelson-Henrick

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