People are slamming Forbes for putting Kylie Jenner on its list of 'self-made' billionaires
- Kylie Jenner is on the cover of Forbes' "America's Women Billionaires" issue, with the magazine reporting that Jenner is the 27th-richest self-made woman in the United States.
- Some took issue with Forbes for calling Jenner - whose ritzy upbringing was documented on "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" - "self-made."
- Jenner's net worth now far exceeds that of anyone else in her family, according to Forbes' calculations.
Some people are taking issue with Forbes putting Kylie Jenner on a list of "self-made" billionaires - but the publication's reasoning makes sense.
On Wednesday, Forbes released its August 2018 "America's Women Billionaires" issue with Jenner on the cover. The magazine estimates Jenner's net worth to be roughly $900 million, making her the 27th-richest self-made woman in the United States.
"Another year of growth will make her the youngest self-made billionaire ever, male or female, trumping Mark Zuckerberg, who became a billionaire at age 23," Forbes reported.
However, some took issue with Forbes classifying Jenner as a "self-made" near-billionaire.
Comedian Franchesca Ramsey tweeted: "being born into extreme wealth & instant fame is the exact opposite of 'self made.'"
Even Dictionary.com got involved:
Jenner's story certainly isn't a rags-to-riches tale. She is the daughter of Kris Jenner - who was previously married to the prominent lawyer Robert Kardashian - and famed Olympian Caitlyn Jenner, and her ritzy Calabasas upbringing was documented on the reality show "Keeping Up With the Kardashians."
However, at this point, Jenner's net worth far exceeds that of anyone else in her family.
The 20-year-old's net worth has skyrocketed thanks to the success of Kylie Cosmetics. Forbes conservatively values the company at $800 million, with an estimated $330 million in sales last year. Jenner is both the face of the company and the sole owner.
Further, Forbes' "self-made" designation is not a value judgement, but instead a way to distinguish between extremely rich people who inherited wealth and those whose fortune was made primarily in other ways.
"We consider any person who built her own fortune, and didn't inherit the money, to be self-made," Forbes' methodology reads. "So top executives at tech firms who are compensated for helping significantly grow companies make the ranks but not second-generation-women running family businesses."
For example, the richest woman in the world, Walmart heiress Alice Walton - whose net worth is estimated to be a whopping $46 billion - is not on the self-made billionaires list because her wealth is inherited. The richest "self-made" woman in America, ABC Supply co-founder and chairperson Diane Hendricks, is worth just one tenth of Walton's, at $4.8 billion.