Kylie Jenner set to become the ‘youngest self-made billionaire ever’

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Kylie Jenner is reportedly on her way to becoming the “youngest self-made” billionaire ever, according to projections by Forbes.

As the youngest sibling of the Kardashian-Jenner clan, Ms Jenner is the sole owner of her cosmetics company, Kylie Cosmetics, which Forbes calculates is valued at $800m (£605m). The publication estimates the 20-year-old is therefore worth $900m with considerations for her additional earnings from TV programmes and endorsements.

Ms Jenner’s older sibling, Kim Kardashian West, 37, helped shoot the Kardashian-Jenner family to international fame with the inception of their reality show, Keeping up with the Kardashians. Since the start of

Keeping the siblings have all gone on to pursue various business ventures; Ms Kardashian West is estimated to be worth $350 million from earnings that includes her own makeup line, KKW Beauty, Forbes reports.

But apparently Ms Jenner is on her way to billionaire status. The publication estimates that with another year of growth, Ms Jenner (who turns 21 in August) will become the “youngest self-made billionaire ever,” male or female, surpassing Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg who became a billionaire at 23.

Ms Jenner launched Kylie Cosmetics in 2016 following a successful international launch of a liquid lipstick and liner duo, called the Kylie Lip Kit, the company’s website states. According to Forbes, back in 2015 Ms Jenner reportedly used her earnings from modeling and clothing endorsement deals to pay an outside company to make her first lip kits sold at $29 a piece. She released some 15,000 lip kits and they reportedly sold out in less than a minute, Forbes reports. With the help of her mom and manager, Kris Jenner, Kylie Cosmetics was later formed. ​

Many on social media took issue with Forbes’ cover story that labelled Ms Jenner as “self-made” pointing out she is a member of a wealthy family and has been on reality TV since the age of 10.

“It is not shade to point out that Kylie Jenner isn’t self-made,” said New York Times bestselling US author Roxane Gay in a tweet. “She grew up in a wealthy, famous family. Her success is commendable but it comes by virtue of her privilege. Words have meanings and it behooves a dictionary to remind us of that.”

Ms Gay was referring to a tweet published by Dictionary.com. The website previously tweeted the Forbes article and shared its definition of “self-made”.

“Self-made means having succeeded in life unaided,” Dictionary.com tweeted. “Used in a sentence: Forbes says that Kylie Jenner is a self-made woman.”

In a statement to CNN, Forbes acknowledged “there are many who are more self-made than others.”

Forbes continued: “Yes, Kylie comes from a wealthy family and she got a visibility boost from her family but she owns her company and is valued based on earnings she has personally received and on the value of the company she founded.”