Kylie Jenner becomes world's youngest billionaire at 21 – overtaking Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg

The business magazine ranked her as the world’s 2,057th richest person with a net worth of $1billion (£760million). She has become a billionaire two years younger than Zuckerberg, who reached the feat aged 23 in 2008.

Jenner, speaking to Forbes, said: “I didn’t expect anything. I did not foresee the future. But (the recognition) feels really good. That’s a nice pat on the back.” Her fortune comes from Kylie Cosmetics, the makeup company she runs largely from her iPhone, with the help of her “momager” mother, Kardashian matriarch Kris.

Shrewd Kris, 63, manages all her children’s financial operations for a ten per cent cut. Forbes estimated that the cosmetics company, which is 100 per cent owned by Jenner, made £274million in sales last year.

Jenner’s initial stock of £22 “lip kits” – with matching lipstick and lip liner – sold out in less than a minute, crashing the website. Most of Kylie Cosmetics’ sales come directly from the social media accounts of Jenner, who is currently dating high-profile US rapper Travis Scott.

She has 128 million followers on Instagram, around three-quarters of whom are estimated to be aged between 18 and 24.

Jenner, who made her reality TV debut aged ten, also has one of the most viewed accounts on Snapchat and is followed by 26.7 million on Twitter. When she tweeted that she was “sooo over” Snapchat last year, more than £760million was wiped off the company’s stock market value.

I could never find a lip liner and a lipstick that were the perfect match. So that’s where I thought of the idea that I wanted to create my own product.

Jenner said: “Social media is an amazing platform. I have such easy access to my fans and my customers.”

Her business, which she founded in 2015, employs just seven full-time staff and five part-time employees and is almost totally outsourced. Jenner comes up with ideas for styles but the products are made by Seed Beauty, a private-label producer.

Orders and sales are outsourced to Shopify, a Canadian online company that also runs shops for Drake and Justin Bieber.

Jenner trademarked the phrase “Kylie Lip Kits…for the perfect pout” two years before setting up her company with £190,000 of money she had made through modelling and reality TV work.

She said: “Ever since I was probably 15, I’ve been obsessed with lipstick. I could never find a lip liner and a lipstick that were the perfect match. So that’s where I thought of the idea that I wanted to create my own product.”

Jenner was scared that sales might not take off when the website first launched, adding: “I kept calling my mum, saying: ‘Mum, I’m so scared. Do you think it’s going to sell?’ Because I put all my money upfront. You know, it’s all my money. I put everything into this.”

Forbes found that the total combined wealth of the world’s billionaires is £6.6trillion – almost three three-times the gross domestic product (GDP) of the UK. But that was down from £6.9trillion last year and its research also found that the total number of billionaires had declined over the past year from 2,208 to 2,153.

The world’s richest person remains the Amazon founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos with a £100billion fortune – up £14billion on 2018. The increase was mostly due to its share price.

Bezos, 55, revealed in January that he was divorcing wife MacKenzie – a move that could see his fortune halved in future. Bill Gates, 63, co-founder of Microsoft took second-place in Forbes’ list with a £73billion fortune, up from £70billion last year.

American business magnate Warren Buffett, 88, is the third-richest with £63billion.

Zuckerberg fell from the fifth-richest person on earth to eighth spot, as his fortune declined from £54billion to £47billion. The drop is due to Facebook’s share price plunging during the Cambridge Analytica data breach scandal.

Donald Trump’s net worth is unchanged at £2.3billion, but the US President has risen from the 766th to the 715th richest person on earth.

More than 50 UK-based billionaires are on the list including Britain’s richest man Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who is leaving the UK for tax-free Monaco. Also on the list is Denise Coates, the online betting boss who paid herself £265miliion in 2017.






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