Lip gloss boss: Kylie Jenner to be youngest self-made billionaire

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Reality TV star Kylie Jenner is on track to become the youngest self-made billionaire in the United States thanks to the booming cosmetics company she launched two years ago, Forbes magazine reported on Wednesday.

Jenner, 20, half-sister of Kim, Khloe and Kourtney Kardashian, debuted Kylie Cosmetics in 2016 with $29 lip kits containing matching lipstick and lip liner, and has since sold more than $630 million worth of makeup.

Forbes said it valued her company at nearly $800 million and that Jenner owns 100 percent of it.

Adding millions from TV programs, endorsements and after-tax dividends from her company, Forbes said Jenner was “conservatively” worth $900 million. Another year of growth would make her the youngest-self made billionaire ever, male or female, the magazine said.

Jenner first grabbed the spotlight as part of the “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” reality TV show with her mother and siblings. Forbes estimated that Kim Kardashian, who has her own cosmetics, clothing and mobile games lines, is worth $350 million.

In an interview with Forbes, Jenner credited social media for helping drive her success.

“Social media is an amazing platform,” she said. “I have such easy access to my fans and my customers.”

Reporting by Lisa Richwine; Editing by Tom Brown

source: news.abs-cbn.com

COCKTALES: Bulacan backyard breeds youngest billionaire

A barrio boy from Bulacan is set to become the country's newest and apparently youngest billionaire, thanks to the wonders of financial alchemy.

Fertilizer and feeds distributor Joseph Calata, 31, of barangay Banga 1st in Plaridel, will formally join the mythical 1 percent club this Wednesday when his company, Calata Corp., gets listed with the Philippine Stock Exchange with a starting market valuation of about P2.7 billion.

Calata's 60 percent stake in the eponymous company in turn translates to about P1.6 billion, a rarefied neighborhood that would make some of his Manila-based La Salle classmates green with envy.

In comparison, another business boy wonder, Edgar Sia II, was 33 in 2010 when he sold 70 percent of his Mang Inasal chicken chain to the listed Jollibee for P3 billion.

Known in the show business circles as the boyfriend of actress Nina Jose, Calata with his good looks and marketing flair -- he visits provincial branches in a suit even in the tropical heat -- parlayed the mom-and-pop store he inherited from his parents to become the leading distributor of agro-chemicals in the country.

From annual revenues of P200 million in 2003, Calata Corp. ended 2011 with P2 billion in combined sales.

"He is very focused and very knowledgeable about the market," said former Central Bank Governor Jaime Laya, when asked what secret sauce Calata had that earned him the trust of the San Miguel Corp. and be appointed as exclusive distributor for B-Meg Feeds in the region.

Laya sits in the Calata board as a director. along with a San Miguel veteran, George Nava.

Advised by Unicapital headed by former GMA7 chief executive Meynardo Jimenez Sr., Calata is raising a modest P270 million from the bourse, the proceeds of which he intends to build 100 retail branches in two years to expand his agro-business trading company.

He is also diversifying into hog and broiler growing business, taking a leaf from Thailand's richest man, Dhanin Chearavanont, who transformed the chicken feed dealership he inherited from his family into what is now the agribusiness giant Charoen Pokhand.

And like San Miguel boss Ramon Ang, Calata is apparently smitten with flying, having formed an aircraft leasing company, Calata Air Inc., as a side venture.

But that, as they say, is another story.

source: interaksyon.com