With KKW Beauty and popular shapewear firm Skims, Kardashian West’s net worth increases to $1 billion, earning her a spot on Forbes’ World’s Billionaires List.



When Kim Kardashian West was first mentioned in the pages of&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;in 2011, it was simply a tally of her Twitter followers: 6.6 million, just below Barack Obama and just above Ashton Kutcher. Five years later, she graced the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/natalierobehmed/2016/07/11/kim-kardashian-mobile-mogul-the-forbes-cover-story/?sh=4d20a0467e4f">cover</a>&nbsp;of&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;thanks to her booming mobile game, which helped her earn $51 million that year. Now, she officially joins the World’s Billionaires list for the first time.



Forbes&nbsp;estimates that Kardashian West is now worth $1 billion, up from $780 million in October, thanks to two lucrative businesses—KKW Beauty and Skims—as well as cash from reality television and endorsement deals, and a number of smaller investments.



Kardashian West founded KKW Beauty in 2017, following the success of her half-sister Kylie Jenner’s Kylie Cosmetics. She borrowed from Kylie’s playbook, using a similar direct-to-consumer model that relies heavily on social media marketing. Her first launch, 300,000 contour kits,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/natalierobehmed/2018/07/11/why-kim-kardashian-west-is-worth-350-million/?sh=6a87c5004f7b">sold out within two hours</a>. By 2018, the business had expanded into eyeshadows, concealers, lipsticks and fragrances, and was bringing in about&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/natalierobehmed/2018/07/11/why-kim-kardashian-west-is-worth-350-million/?sh=6a87c5004f7b">$100 million in revenue.</a>



&#8220;It’s the first time I&#8217;ve moved away from having licensing deals and transitioned into being an owner,&#8221; Kardashian West told&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/natalierobehmed/2017/06/13/how-kim-kardashian-west-bounced-back-to-45-5-million-and-a-new-cosmetics-company/?sh=6b6453f68f59">Forbes</a>&nbsp;in 2017, when she announced her cosmetics line.



She cashed in on that ownership last year when she sold 20% of KKW Beauty to cosmetics conglomerate Coty for $200 million, a deal that valued the company at $1 billion. While Forbes estimates that figure is a little bloated—Coty, which also bought 51% of Kylie Cosmetics in 2020, is known for overpaying—her remaining 72% stake is still worth about $500 million, by our count.



Then there’s Skims, the shapewear line Kardashian West launched in 2019. She raised money from fashion insiders like Net-a-Porter’s Natalie Massane and Theory’s Andrew Rosen, and capitalized on her massive social media following to shill the brand. (She now has 69.6 million Twitter followers and 213 million followers on Instagram.) Skims has been quick on its feet: During the pandemic, when consumers became more interested in comfy clothes for the couch than in smoothing their stomachs under evening gowns, she swiftly started turning the focus to loungewear.



Kardashian West owns a majority stake in closely-held Skims, which hasn’t disclosed its revenues. A source familiar with Skims told Forbes about a transaction that values the shapewear company north of $500 million. As a result, Forbes estimates her Skims stake is worth a conservative $225 million, enough to lift her fortune to $1 billion.



The rest of Kardashian West’s fortune sits in cash and investments, including real estate. Every year since 2012, she has earned at least $10 million pretax, by&nbsp;Forbes’&nbsp;count, thanks to paychecks from&nbsp;Keeping Up With the Kardashians,&nbsp;endorsement deals and endeavors like the aforementioned mobile game and her now-defunct Kimoji app. She’s also got three properties in Calabasas, northwest of Los Angeles, and a portfolio of blue-chip investments, including shares of Disney, Amazon, Netflix and Adidas that her soon-to-be ex-husband Kanye West gifted her for Christmas in 2017.&nbsp;



But it’s the companies that she has launched herself, and grown with the typical Kardashian flare for self-promotion, that land her on the World’s Billionaires list. As she tweeted the day she made the cover of Forbes, mocking the criticism she’s received for years: “Not bad for a girl with no talent.”



By <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/maddieberg/">Madeline Berg</a>Forbes Staff

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Kim Kardashian West Is Officially A Billionaire

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 Officially A Billionaire

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