- 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.
Jenny Cheng/Business Insider
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.
I feel like Forbes doesn't know what "self-made" means. https://t.co/2DzbIqzpnV
- Parker Molloy (@ParkerMolloy) July 11, 2018
Does Forbes know what Self Made means? https://t.co/r9g3hSytR3
- kimberly rose drew (@museummammy) July 11, 2018
calling kylie jenner a 'self-made billionaire' is like claiming you made soup from scratch because you opened a can and reheated it.
- gulab jamun (@PedestrianPoet) July 11, 2018
"Self-made" will never not be a slap in the face https://t.co/Y59dRqvMYf
- Chickenhead of the sea (@Dominicannabis_) July 11, 2018
"Self-made"? Really? It's easy to become a billionaire when you're parents are millionaires...It's called generational wealth + nepotism.
Try Oprah Winfrey, who was raised on a small Mississippi farm by her grandmother, for self-made *whispers Kylie also isn't a billionaire yet* pic.twitter.com/UQGrJxno8z
- Shelby Ivey Christie (@bronze_bombSHEL) July 11, 2018
For the love of God, I seriously want to break something when I see the very epitome of privilege described as "self-made".
For f*** sake, if you start the 40-yard dash on the 39-yard line, you are NOT self-made.
God, this is stupid. https://t.co/bbp63AsbfZ
- The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) July 11, 2018
Self-made means having succeeded in life unaided.
Used in a sentence: Forbes says that Kylie Jenner is a self-made woman. https://t.co/sr8Ncd7s5A https://t.co/ehEL7Cf6KV
- Dictionary.com (@Dictionarycom) July 11, 2018