Kylie Jenner Influences Investors
22-year-old billionaire and reality TV star Kylie Jenner knows what she’s doing as a top Instagram socialite! Her Kylie Cosmetics brand is arguably the fastest growing in the world, with a valuation upwards of $900 million, according to Forbes. All that has had executives at cosmetics firm, Coty, thinking, “huh, we should probably get in on this!”
Which they now have! Yesterday, Coty paid a pretty sum of $600 million for a controlling stake in Kylie Cosmetics (KC). It’s money well spent according to investors. Shares popped 5% in trading yesterday as a 51% majority put the firm in charge of over 270 million social media followers. Coty’s own revenues tumbled by half a billion last year, so Kylie’s $350 million in sales could plug those leaks. You keeping up with these numbers?!
It will also be a relief to investors knowing that Coty has tranquilized one of its dark horse competitors. Many scoffed at Kylie Cosmetics when it launched, but there’s power in people, and the power of social media influencers to harness fan relations commercially has grown well beyond celebrity endorsements. Armed with personal brands, influencers of all forms are going it alone against faceless discretionary labels like Coty. So, if you can’t beat ‘em, buy ‘em!
As Wall Street lays the red carpet for Kylie, only one fear still lingers at the back of investors’ minds. Coty has snapped up over 40 brands already and has failed to unlock the potential of them. The company is undergoing huge restructuring efforts and is forced constantly to admit that it’s paid too much for past acquisitions. No quantity of makeup could patch up that worrying backdrop, so the market is crossing its fingers that Jenner can influence the situation!
