In what will be the second major Kardashian cashout in a year, Kim Kardashian West is selling a 20% stake in her cosmetics company KKW Beauty to beauty giant Coty&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/companies/coty-inc" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">COTY</a>&nbsp;for $200 million. The deal—<a href="https://www.coty.com/in-the-news/press-release/coty-and-kim-kardashian-west-announce-strategic-relationship-expand-beauty" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">announced today</a>—values KKW Beauty at $1 billion, making Kardashian West worth about $900 million, according to&nbsp;Forbes’estimates.



The acquisition, which is set to close in early 2021, will leave Kardashian West the majority owner of KKW Beauty, with an estimated 72% stake in the company, which is known for its color cosmetics like contouring creams and highlighters.&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;estimates that her mother, Kris Jenner, owns 8% of the business. (Neither Kardashian West nor Kris Jenner have responded to a request for comment about their stakes.) According to Coty, she’ll remain responsible for creative efforts while Coty will focus on expanding product development outside the realm of color cosmetics.



Earlier this year, Kardashian West’s half-sister, Kylie Jenner, also inked a big deal with Coty, when she sold it 51% of her Kylie Cosmetics at a valuation of $1.2 billion. The deal left Jenner with a net worth of <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/chasewithorn/2020/05/29/inside-kylie-jennerss-web-of-lies-and-why-shes-no-longer-a-billionaire/#6e35ef4c25f7">just under $900 million.</a> Both Kylie Cosmetics and KKW Beauty are among a number of brands, including Anastasia Beverly Hills, Huda Beauty and Glossier, that have received sky-high valuations thanks to their social-media-friendly marketing. 



“Kim is a true modern-day global icon,” said Coty chairman and CEO Peter Harf in a statement. “This influence, combined with Coty’s leadership and deep expertise in prestige beauty will allow us to achieve the full potential of her brands.”



The deal comes just days after Seed Beauty, which develops, manufactures and ships both KKW Beauty and Kylie Cosmetics, won a temporary injunction against KKW Beauty, hoping to prevent it from sharing trade secrets with Coty, which also owns brands like CoverGirl, Sally Hansen and Rimmel. On June 19, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/maddieberg/2020/06/23/the-company-that-makes-kim-kardashians-cosmetics-is-suing-her-to-protect-its-trade-secrets/#1f7f0b0aaac0">Seed filed a lawsuit against KKW Beauty</a> seeking protection of its trade secrets ahead of an expected deal between Coty and KKW Beauty. The temporary order, granted on June 26, lasts until August 21 and forbids KKW Beauty from disclosing details related to the Seed-KKW relationship, including “the terms of those agreements, information about license use, marketing obligations, product launch and distribution, revenue sharing, intellectual property ownership, specifications, ingredients, formulas, plans and other information about Seed products.”



Coty has struggled in recent years, with Wall Street insisting it routinely overpays for acquisitions and has failed to keep up with contemporary beauty trends. The coronavirus pandemic has also hit the 116-year-old company hard. Since the beginning of the year, Coty’s stock price has fallen nearly 60%. The company, which had $8.6 billion in revenues in the year through June 2019, now sports a $3.3 billion market capitalization. By striking deals with companies like KKW Beauty and Kylie Cosmetics, Coty is hoping to refresh its image and appeal to younger consumers.



Kardashian West founded KKW Beauty in 2017, after successfully collaborating with Kylie Cosmetics on a set of lip kits. Like her half-sister, Kardashian West first launched online only, but later moved into Ulta stores in October 2019, helping her generate estimated revenues of $100 million last year. KKW Beauty is one of several business ventures for Kardashian West: She continues to appear on her family’s reality show,&nbsp;Keeping Up with the Kardashians,&nbsp;sells her own line of shapewear called Skims and promotes her mobile game,&nbsp;Kim Kardashian Hollywood.&nbsp;Her husband, Kanye West,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/maddieberg/2020/06/26/gap-stock-surges-after-kanye-west-signs-deal-to-sell-a-new-yeezy-clothing-line-with-struggling-retailer/#2807b5361437">recently announced a deal</a>&nbsp;to sell a line of his Yeezy apparel in Gap stores.



“This is fun for me. Now I’m coming up with Kimojis and the app and all these other ideas,” Kardashian West <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/natalierobehmed/2016/07/11/kim-kardashian-mobile-mogul-the-forbes-cover-story/#46bf36907e4f">told Forbes</a>of her various business ventures in 2016. “I don’t see myself stopping.”



&#8211;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/maddieberg/">Madeline Berg</a>, Forbes Staff, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/hollywood-entertainment">Hollywood &amp; Entertainment</a>

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Kim Kardashian West Is Worth $900 Million After Agreeing To Sell A Stake In Her Cosmetics Firm To Coty

TOPLINE Trustees working to claw back money owed to investors, lenders and attendees of the 2017 bankrupt music extravaganza Fyre Festival settled a lawsuit with model and influencer Kendall Jenner for $90,000⁠—less than half of the $275,000 she was sued for in connection to a promotional Instagram post.



KEY FACTS



<ul><li>Jenner is among entertainers such as Blink-182 and Pusha T who were paid for their involvement in the festival⁠—which promised days of parties, luxury accommodations and gourmet food, but was instead a complete flop, and generated multiple lawsuits.</li></ul>



<ul><li>Bankruptcy law <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.americanbar.org/groups/business_law/publications/blt/2020/02/trustee-clawback/" target="_blank">allows</a> trustees to recover, or claw back, payments made before a company filed for bankruptcy, and Jenner and other entertainers were sued by Fyre Festival trustees to recover money for creditors.</li></ul>



<ul><li>According to <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://s.wsj.net/public/resources/documents/fyre_festival_trustee_lawsuit_kendall_jenner.pdf?mod=article_inline" target="_blank">court documents</a>, Jenner was allegedly paid $250,000 to promote the festival in a single, now-deleted Instagram post, along with an additional $25,000 a few days after the post went live.</li></ul>



<ul><li>“So hyped to announce my G.O.O.D Music Family as the first headliners for @fyrefestival,” Jenner wrote in the deleted post, according to court documents. “Use my promo code KJONFYRE for the next 24 hours to get on the list for the artists and talents afterparty on Fyre Cay.”</li></ul>



<ul><li>The lawsuit <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://s.wsj.net/public/resources/documents/fyre_festival_trustee_lawsuit_kendall_jenner.pdf?mod=article_inline" target="_blank">alleges</a> that Jenner did not indicate she was paid for the Instagram post, and “intentionally led certain members of the public and ticket purchasers to believe” her brother-in-law Kanye West, G.O.O.D’s founder, could attend or perform at the festival.</li></ul>



<ul><li>Jenner, who has 129 million Instagram followers, denied any liability connected to the lawsuit, according to court documents; the settlement still requires a judge’s approval, and, as the <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/kendall-jenner-settles-lawsuit-over-fyre-festival-11589991702?mod=e2tw" target="_blank">Wall Street Journal</a> reported, will avoid spending more time and money on litigation.</li></ul>



BIG NUMBER



Over $26 million. That’s how much money Fyre Festival investors&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexandrasternlicht/2019/10/24/fyre-proof-the-sudden-fall-and-swift-re-emergence-of-fckjerrys-elliot-tebele/#24b9cfe564e8">ultimately lost</a>, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.&nbsp;



KEY BACKGROUND



Fyre Festival⁠—which promised attendees (who paid anywhere from $500 to over $250,000) a two weekends-long party full of marquee music acts and models like Jenner and Bella Hadid⁠—was a failure. The reality, as chronicled in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.googleadservices.com/pagead/aclk?sa=L&amp;ai=DChcSEwjgzcKYnMPpAhW87LUKHfP3DkUYABAAGgJxbg&amp;ohost=www.google.com&amp;cid=CAESQeD2Naq493iIchLiPH00lSujsk3BkXm6RuGpYhP5MfzrplJ8a5Dxo-R6Lq8PZo3Yqk9dQ_NuTBcJ8w43wDSkl-c0&amp;sig=AOD64_14YAQP3GC5wvqfp81vZfTd2RFOGQ&amp;q=&amp;ved=2ahUKEwiVgbeYnMPpAhWHhOAKHWq_CAYQ0Qx6BAgsEAE&amp;adurl=" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">two</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.netflix.com/title/81035279" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">documentaries</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://pagesix.com/2019/01/22/amy-schumer-jumps-in-on-mocking-fyre-festival/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">mocked</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.thewrap.com/fyre-festival-disaster-twitter-mocks/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">extensively</a>, involved FEMA tents, cheese sandwiches in foam containers and stranded festival-goers. None of the promised entertainers showed. The Fyre Festival fallout resulted in multiple lawsuits. Its founder, Billy McFarland, is serving a six year prison sentence for multiple fraudulent schemes. He&nbsp;<a href="https://www.thewrap.com/fyre-festivals-billy-mcfarland-asks-for-early-prison-release-due-to-coronavirus-risk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">requested</a>&nbsp;compassionate release in light of the coronavirus pandemic. It was denied.



TANGENT



In 2019, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/lisettevoytko/2019/07/05/kardashian-clans-716-trademarks-how-kim-kanye-kylie-and-kendall-protect-their-brands/#2f8d4df24e67">Forbes reported</a> that Jenner held 34 U.S. trademark applications among the over 700 owned by the Kardashian clan (that’s Kim, Kanye, and sister Kylie, along with Kendall)⁠.



&#8211;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/lisettevoytko/">Lisette Voytko</a>, Forbes Staff, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/business">Business</a>

Tag: Kardashians

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA

Kim Kardashian West Is Worth $900 Million After Agreeing To Sell A Stake In Her Cosmetics Firm To Coty

Kendall Jenner Settles Fyre Festival Instagram Post Lawsuit For $90,000