Forbes Says Kylie Jenner Is Not a Billionaire and Questions Tax Returns the Family Provided; Jenner Responds

Forbes has pulled Kylie Jenner’s billionaire label, and Jenner is pushing back hard.

In a report published Friday, Forbes said it no longer believes the 22 year old is a billionaire. The magazine said the Kardashian Jenner family gave it inflated numbers for years, including tax returns that Forbes said were likely forged. Forbes said it could not prove the documents were fake.

What Forbes reported

Forbes had named Jenner a billionaire in March 2019, and the title seemed to be confirmed when Coty bought a 51 percent stake in Kylie Cosmetics in a deal that valued the company at $1.2 billion. Forbes said filings Coty released over the past six months showed the business is smaller and less profitable than the family had suggested. According to Forbes, the filings put revenue for the 12 months before the deal at about $177 million, well below the figures the family shared earlier.

Forbes said the family had shown its reporters tax returns listing $307 million in revenue and more than $110 million in personal income for Jenner in 2016. The magazine said the documents carried her signature but described the story they told as hard to believe. Forbes also said Jenner’s team told it that her skincare line made $100 million in its first month and a half, while Coty’s filings suggested it was on track for about $25 million that year.

With the new information, and with the pandemic weighing on beauty stocks, Forbes now estimates Jenner’s net worth at just under $900 million, even after an estimated $340 million in after tax proceeds from the Coty deal. Forbes said the family stopped answering questions when it pressed for explanations.

Jenner responds

Jenner answered on Twitter, writing, “What am I waking up to. I thought this was a reputable site. All I see are a number of inaccurate statements and unproven assumptions, lol.” She added that she has “never asked for any title or tried to lie my way there EVER. period.”

Jenner has not been accused of any crime, and the figures remain a dispute between the magazine and the family.