The two richest members of the Kardashian-Jenner clan are reportedly in talks to buy back the stakes of Kylie Cosmetics and SKKN by Kim. The makeup and skin care lines sold to Coty Inc. in 2020 for AUD$900 million and $300 million respectively, Bloomberg reported Thursday.
Kylie Jenner attends the 2023 Vanity Fair Oscar Party Hosted by Radhika Jones on March 12, 2023 in Beverly Hills, California. FilmMagic.
Key Facts
Disagreements over price, valuation and management of the brands since the sales were cited as the reason for the potential split of Coty and Kylie Cosmetics by two unnamed sources.
Kylie Jenner, the youngest member of the famous family, sold 51% of Kylie Cosmetics to Coty in 2020. It was a controversial deal which valued the company at AUD$1.8 billion in 2020.
Eighteen months after the sale, Coty re-launched Kylie Cosmetics with new formulas and a new website. Coty also put the cosmetics in brick and mortar stores for the first time. In July, Coty said the brand had grown by double-digits in the previous quarter, according to Bloomberg.
Kim Kardashian has been in talks to buy back Coty’s 20% stake in SKKN by Kim since July, the Wall Street Journal first reported. Kardashian sold part of the shapewear company for AUD$300 million, in a deal that valued the business at AUD$1.5 billion.
Coty, one of the world’s largest beauty companies, was trading at US$11.58 per share on the New York Stock Exchange, up less than 1%, as of 10:40 a.m. EDT Thursday.
The company also owns CoverGirl, OPI and Sally Hansen, and has a market cap of AUD$15 billion. Representatives for Coty, Kylie Cosmetics and SKKN by Kim did not immediately respond to Forbes’ request for comment Thursday.
Kylie Cosmetics are displayed at Ulta beauty on November 18, 2019 in New York City.
Getty Images
Key background
Kyle Jenner’s sale of Kylie Cosmetics to Coty marked a milestone moment for the Kardashian-Jenner family and seemed to prove that she really was the self-made billionaire she claimed to be, with the deal valuing her business at $1.8 billion.
But further investigation into the deal by Forbes showed that the business was significantly smaller, and less profitable, than she and her family had claimed. Financials revealed by Coty said the brand generated AUD$192 million in 2018—far different than the AUD$555 million the Jenners had previously led Forbes to believe.
It later emerged the family lied repeatedly about the size of the brand and even had their accountant draft tax returns with false numbers. Forbes estimates Jenner, now 26, made AUD$524 million after taxes from the sale of Kylie Cosmetics and, in May of 2020, said she was no longer believed to be a billionaire.
Crucial quote
“You have to remember they are in the entertainment business,” cosmetics veteran Jeffrey Ten told Forbes at the time. “Everything in entertainment has to be exaggerated to get attention.”
Forbes valuation
Jenner was listed as the richest self-made woman under 40 by Forbes this year, with an estimated net worth of AUD$1 billion. Kim Kardashian has an estimated net worth of AUD$2.6 billion, making her the 1,705th richest person in the world Thursday.
This article was first published on forbes.com
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