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Kylie Jenner takes Mark Zuckerberg's place on Forbes' youngest billionaire list

Some people have taken issue with Jenner being called a "self-made billionaire."

Abrar Al-Heeti Technology Reporter
Abrar Al-Heeti is a technology reporter for CNET, with an interest in phones, streaming, internet trends, entertainment, pop culture and digital accessibility. She's also worked for CNET's video, culture and news teams. She graduated with bachelor's and master's degrees in journalism from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Though Illinois is home, she now loves San Francisco -- steep inclines and all.
Expertise Abrar has spent her career at CNET analyzing tech trends while also writing news, reviews and commentaries across mobile, streaming and online culture. Credentials
  • Named a Tech Media Trailblazer by the Consumer Technology Association in 2019, a winner of SPJ NorCal's Excellence in Journalism Awards in 2022 and has three times been a finalist in the LA Press Club's National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards.
Abrar Al-Heeti
2 min read
Kylie Jenner
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Step aside, Mark Zuckerberg . There's a new record-breaking billionaire in town. 

Forbes on Tuesday named Kylie Jenner the "youngest self-made billionaire ever" in its annual list of the world's richest people. The 21-year-old cosmetics mogul reached the milestone at an age younger than Facebook's Zuckerberg, who was 23 when he earned the ranking. 

Other newcomers on Forbes' list include Spotify co-founders Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon, who are worth $2.3 billion and $3.1 billion, respectively. Snapchat's Evan Spiegel, 28, was listed among the top eight billionaires under 30, with a net worth of more than $2 billion.

Jenner is worth $1 billion, according to Forbes, thanks in part to her company Kylie Cosmetics signing an exclusive deal with Ulta Beauty last year. Kylie Cosmetics is worth around $900 million, Forbes estimates, and Jenner owns 100 percent of it. The money she's made from the business has helped push her into billionaire status. Bloomberg on Tuesday also named Jenner the world's youngest self-made billionaire, citing its daily ranking of the richest people.

Watch this: Kylie Jenner beats Zuck as youngest billionaire

The use of the word "self-made" has some people up in arms, given that Jenner comes from a wealthy family (the Kardashian-Jenner clan, for those not familiar). Dictionary.com, for one, wasn't having it. 

"Haven't we gone over this? Self-made: Having succeeded in life unaided," the account tweeted, along with a link to the definition of "self-made."

Forbes explained that it defines "self-made" as "someone who built a company or established a fortune on her own, rather than inheriting some or all of it." 

In 2014, the publication came up with a scoring system that ranks people on the Forbes 400 list of richest Americans on a scale of 1 to 10, based on "how self-made" they are. Someone who inherited everything they have gets a 1, whereas someone who didn't grow up with money and experienced hardships gets a 10, Forbes says. Jenner got a 7. 

"I didn't expect anything. I did not foresee the future," Jenner told Forbes about the ranking. "But [the recognition] feels really good. That's a nice pat on the back."

We bet it is.