Inside Kylie Jenner's quest to become a 'fake billionaire' - orchestrated by momager Kris

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Kylie Jenner sparked fury when she was declared the world's youngest self-made billionaire in Forbes magazine, with many arguing she couldn't take this title coming from a famous family.

But it's now claimed Kylie is not a billionaire after all and spun a "web of lies" to be able to call herself so, with the help of her momager Kris Jenner.

Forbes has gone back on its own cover and taken a look at her business ventures and takings over the years, in particular from her hugely sucessful Kylie Cosmetics business.

Forbes estimates that she is actually worth just shy of $1billion at $900million (£729million).

The magazine claims the Kardashian-Jenner clan has been desperate to climb its famous rich list, even supposedly creating tax returns that were likely forged.

Kylie has now hit out at the claims, tweeting: "I can name a list of 100 things more important right now than fixating on how much money I have."

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Forbes claims Kylie Jenner isn't actually a billionaire (Image: kyliejenner/Instagram)
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Kylie on the cover of Forbes magazine (Image: FORBES/JAMEL TOPPIN)

Kylie Cosmetics was set up in 2015 off the back of the mum-of-one finally coming clean about having lip fillers, which she'd always denied.

She and Kris used the scandal as a marketing opportunity and launched the brand.

It was immediately successful and the first batch of 15,000 lip kits sold out in less than a minute.

After Kim graced the cover of Forbes in 2016 Kris started her campaign for Kylie to do the same, the magazine claims.

The magazine now says that Kris Jenner owns a stake in the company as Coty’s purchase agreement specifically lists a "KMJ 2018 Irrevocable Trust," controlled by Kristen M. Jenner.

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Kylie with her momager and sisters: Kris Jenner, Khloe, Kim and Kourtney Kardashian and Kendall Jenner (Image: E!)

The Jenners said the business revenue was $400million (£324million) in the first 18 months, with a personal take-home of $250million (£202million) for Kylie, which they proved to Forbes by showing the books.

Forbes thought this figure was implausible and spoke to experts and analysts who thought the true figure was closer to $41million (£33million) for Kylie herself.

This got her a place of a mere 59 on the Rich List, something Kris was said to be furious about.

Two months later trade magazine WWD ran a story with the original figure provided by Kris and this became the accepted number as other publications picked up the story.

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The Kylie Cosmetics offices (Image: kyliejenner/Instagram)

By August 2018, when Kylie finally got her Forbes cover, analysts believed it was "totally possible" that she could be a billionaire.

The Jenners said 2017 revenues were up to $330million (£268million), with Forbes estimating her worth as $900million (£730million).

Kris Jenner tweeted she was "so proud" and Kim Kardashian tweeted her congratulations twice.

In November last year Coty announced it was buying 51% of Kylie Cosmetics for $600 million (£487million), effectively valuing her business at $1.2 billion (£972million).

But Forbes' analysts thought this implausible: it was a huge amount to pay for a celebrity brand.

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Kylie has hit out at the report (Image: AFP/Getty Images)

Revenues over a 12-month period preceding the deal were valued at $177million (£144million), according to Coty's presentation, which they said was up 40% from 2018, placing that year's financials around $125million (£102million).

Forbes alleges that this was "nowhere near the $360 million the Jenners had led Forbes to believe."

The magazine presents two possibilities for the alleged irregularities - the business fell by more than 50% in a year, meaning Coty had splashed out on a "high-growth brand", or Kylie hasn't been telling the truth about the business's since 2016.

The Jenners also reportedly told the magazine that Kylie Skin did $100million (£81million) in revenues in its first month and a half but filings show it was actually on track to finish the year with just $25million (£20million).

Mirror Online has contacted Kylie's reps for comment.