WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.940 Welcome back to the Deep Dive. It is Monday, 00:00:02.240 --> 00:00:05.580 February 2nd, 2026. And we have a big one today. 00:00:05.719 --> 00:00:08.339 We really do. We are opening up a file that honestly, 00:00:08.519 --> 00:00:10.960 it serves as the ultimate Rorschach test for 00:00:10.960 --> 00:00:13.240 how you view modern capitalism. That's a great 00:00:13.240 --> 00:00:15.099 way to put it. We're looking at a figure who 00:00:15.099 --> 00:00:17.820 has been in the public eye for nearly two decades 00:00:17.820 --> 00:00:20.859 now. Someone who essentially rewrote the playbook 00:00:20.859 --> 00:00:26.239 on monetization, influence and the very concept 00:00:26.239 --> 00:00:29.100 of reality. We are talking, of course, about 00:00:29.100 --> 00:00:32.200 Kylie Jenner. We are. And, you know, it is a 00:00:32.200 --> 00:00:33.840 fascinating time to be having this conversation. 00:00:33.840 --> 00:00:37.659 Sitting here in early 2026, Kylie is 28 years 00:00:37.659 --> 00:00:40.500 old. Right. And she is currently navigating what 00:00:40.500 --> 00:00:43.439 is, I think, arguably the most dangerous pivot 00:00:43.439 --> 00:00:45.719 of her career. The acting move. The acting move. 00:00:45.880 --> 00:00:48.640 She's moved away from the King Kylie era of pure 00:00:48.640 --> 00:00:50.579 influencer marketing. Yeah. And is attempting 00:00:50.579 --> 00:00:52.700 to break into serious acting with her role in 00:00:52.700 --> 00:00:55.219 the moment. A huge gamble. A massive one. Yeah. 00:00:55.299 --> 00:00:57.479 But understand, if this gamble is going to pay 00:00:57.479 --> 00:00:59.939 off, we have to go back. We have to understand 00:00:59.939 --> 00:01:02.380 the machine that got her here in the first place. 00:01:02.780 --> 00:01:04.819 Exactly. I think a lot of people see the Instagram 00:01:04.819 --> 00:01:07.780 grid, the Met Gala looks, you know, the headlines, 00:01:08.019 --> 00:01:10.560 and they just see celebrity. But when you actually 00:01:10.560 --> 00:01:13.920 dig into the stack of reports we have here, and 00:01:13.920 --> 00:01:17.480 we have a lot, the SEC filings from the Cordy 00:01:17.480 --> 00:01:20.060 deal, the trademark court transcripts, the supply 00:01:20.060 --> 00:01:23.260 chain audits, you realize this isn't just fluff. 00:01:23.340 --> 00:01:27.900 This is a case study in really aggressive business 00:01:27.900 --> 00:01:30.599 strategy. It really is. And our mission today 00:01:30.599 --> 00:01:32.680 is to unpack that strategy. We're going to look 00:01:32.680 --> 00:01:34.659 at how the youngest sibling, who was effectively 00:01:34.659 --> 00:01:38.159 a background character in the early days of Keeping 00:01:38.159 --> 00:01:39.819 Up with the Kardashians. She really was just 00:01:39.819 --> 00:01:42.599 sort of there. Leveraged a specific physical 00:01:42.599 --> 00:01:45.540 insecurity into a billion dollar conversation. 00:01:45.799 --> 00:01:47.319 And as I said, conversation, not necessarily 00:01:47.319 --> 00:01:49.840 billion dollar bank account. Yes. Because we 00:01:49.840 --> 00:01:51.439 are definitely going to get into the weeds of 00:01:51.439 --> 00:01:54.579 that Forbes scandal. The web of lies. We are 00:01:54.579 --> 00:01:57.090 absolutely going there. I can't wait. But before 00:01:57.090 --> 00:02:00.370 we get to the billions and the scandals, let's 00:02:00.370 --> 00:02:03.290 unpack the origin story. You have to. Because 00:02:03.290 --> 00:02:06.030 to understand Kylie in 2026, you have to remember 00:02:06.030 --> 00:02:08.969 who she was in, like, 2010. You have to go back 00:02:08.969 --> 00:02:11.990 to what I call the bundled era. The bundled era. 00:02:12.150 --> 00:02:14.229 That is such a good way to put it. Explain that. 00:02:14.490 --> 00:02:17.810 Well, think about it. She was born in 1997. The 00:02:17.810 --> 00:02:20.849 show premieres in 2007. She's nine years old. 00:02:21.009 --> 00:02:24.319 A child. A literal child. So for the first five 00:02:24.319 --> 00:02:26.860 or six years of her fame, she didn't have a solo 00:02:26.860 --> 00:02:28.900 identity in the marketplace. She was a package 00:02:28.900 --> 00:02:31.960 deal. It was always Kendall and Kylie. Always. 00:02:32.000 --> 00:02:33.780 I was looking through the notes on their early 00:02:33.780 --> 00:02:36.400 ventures and it is a trip down memory lane. I 00:02:36.400 --> 00:02:38.020 mean, they were throwing everything at the wall. 00:02:38.180 --> 00:02:40.699 Everything. You had the clothing line with PacSun 00:02:40.699 --> 00:02:43.800 in 2013, the Kendall and Kylie collection. Which 00:02:43.800 --> 00:02:45.759 for a mall brand was actually pretty successful. 00:02:46.039 --> 00:02:48.599 It was. Then you had the jewelry line with Glam 00:02:48.599 --> 00:02:52.099 House. They even had that ghost written sci -fi 00:02:52.099 --> 00:02:55.259 novel. Rebels. City of Indra. A classic of the 00:02:55.259 --> 00:02:58.590 genre. Yes. I completely forgot about this. It's 00:02:58.590 --> 00:03:01.389 such a fascinating artifact of celebrity branding. 00:03:01.710 --> 00:03:05.229 It was released in 2014. And you have to remember 00:03:05.229 --> 00:03:07.870 the context. Dystopia was huge because of the 00:03:07.870 --> 00:03:10.689 Hunger Games. Oh, it was everything. So, of course, 00:03:10.689 --> 00:03:13.229 they tried to capitalize on that trend. But the 00:03:13.229 --> 00:03:16.110 critical reception was, let's just call it brutal. 00:03:16.330 --> 00:03:18.629 Brutal is kind. I think it sold something like 00:03:18.629 --> 00:03:21.669 13 ,000 copies in the first four months. Which, 00:03:21.789 --> 00:03:25.050 for a celebrity book of that level, is a flop. 00:03:25.550 --> 00:03:27.509 And the controversy wasn't just that the book 00:03:27.509 --> 00:03:29.590 was, you know, not very good. It was the authorship. 00:03:29.810 --> 00:03:31.969 All right. That was the real issue. It was marketed 00:03:31.969 --> 00:03:35.550 very heavily as a novel by Kendall and Kylie 00:03:35.550 --> 00:03:38.050 Jenner. Their names were huge on the cover. Right. 00:03:38.169 --> 00:03:40.530 But then it came out that a writer named Maya 00:03:40.530 --> 00:03:43.569 Sloan was the actual author, the ghostwriter. 00:03:43.710 --> 00:03:45.590 Now, ghostwriting is totally standard in the 00:03:45.590 --> 00:03:48.280 industry. That's not the issue. Not at all. But 00:03:48.280 --> 00:03:50.560 usually, the celebrity provides the meat of the 00:03:50.560 --> 00:03:53.439 story, the characters, the plot points. In this 00:03:53.439 --> 00:03:55.759 case, the Jenner camp's defense was that the 00:03:55.759 --> 00:03:58.840 girls had, and this is a direct quote, numerous 00:03:58.840 --> 00:04:01.620 Skype and FaceTime calls with the writer. Numerous 00:04:01.620 --> 00:04:04.639 Skype calls. That is a very, very low bar for 00:04:04.639 --> 00:04:06.740 putting your name on the cover of a novel. It 00:04:06.740 --> 00:04:09.340 is, but it highlights the strategy of that whole 00:04:09.340 --> 00:04:12.680 era, brand slapping. Explain that. The idea was 00:04:12.680 --> 00:04:15.620 that the name Jenner was the value add, regardless 00:04:15.620 --> 00:04:18.040 of the product quality. The name itself was the 00:04:18.040 --> 00:04:20.199 asset. So it didn't matter if it was nail polish 00:04:20.199 --> 00:04:23.439 or a book. Exactly. Whether it was OPI nail polish 00:04:23.439 --> 00:04:25.699 or a sci -fi book, the product was secondary 00:04:25.699 --> 00:04:28.839 to the label. But the problem for Kylie was she 00:04:28.839 --> 00:04:31.120 didn't have her own label yet. She was just Kendall's 00:04:31.120 --> 00:04:33.259 sister. Kendall's little sister. Which brings 00:04:33.259 --> 00:04:35.920 us to the pivot point. I mean, this is the moment 00:04:35.920 --> 00:04:38.240 that changed the trajectory of the entire family 00:04:38.240 --> 00:04:40.620 business, really. It did. We're talking 2014 00:04:40.620 --> 00:04:43.569 and 2015. We're talking about the lips. This 00:04:43.569 --> 00:04:46.709 is the aha moment. And it's so fascinating because 00:04:46.709 --> 00:04:49.829 it's rooted in a very human, very relatable insecurity. 00:04:50.430 --> 00:04:53.189 I remember this so vividly. Her face started 00:04:53.189 --> 00:04:55.730 changing on Instagram. Her lips got significantly 00:04:55.730 --> 00:04:58.470 bigger and it happened like overnight. It was 00:04:58.470 --> 00:05:00.889 very sudden. And the media obsession shifted 00:05:00.889 --> 00:05:04.149 from what is she wearing to what did she do to 00:05:04.149 --> 00:05:06.810 her face? That was the only question anyone was 00:05:06.810 --> 00:05:09.069 asking. And for a long, long time, the strategy 00:05:09.069 --> 00:05:11.949 was denial. Complete and total denial. She claimed 00:05:11.949 --> 00:05:14.610 it was just lip liner. The overlining trick? 00:05:14.829 --> 00:05:17.610 She said she was overlining her lips to create 00:05:17.610 --> 00:05:20.290 an optical illusion. She gave tutorials on it. 00:05:20.430 --> 00:05:22.589 Which, I don't know if it was inadvertent or 00:05:22.589 --> 00:05:25.470 not, but it triggered the Kylie Jenner challenge. 00:05:25.709 --> 00:05:27.689 Oh, it wasn't inadvertent, the effect at least. 00:05:27.829 --> 00:05:31.250 And that challenge was a sociologically fascinating, 00:05:31.569 --> 00:05:34.970 if horrifying, Phenomenon. Horrifying is the 00:05:34.970 --> 00:05:37.529 word. You had thousands of teenagers, mostly 00:05:37.529 --> 00:05:40.089 young girls, suctioning their lips into shot 00:05:40.089 --> 00:05:42.129 glasses or water bottles to induce swelling, 00:05:42.329 --> 00:05:44.790 trying to mimic that look. People were bruising 00:05:44.790 --> 00:05:47.389 themselves, bursting blood vessels. It was actually 00:05:47.389 --> 00:05:49.430 dangerous. The photos were all over the Internet. 00:05:49.629 --> 00:05:52.569 It was incredibly dangerous. But from a business 00:05:52.569 --> 00:05:55.550 perspective, what did that tell her team? It's 00:05:55.550 --> 00:05:58.439 a proof of concept. It's hard data. It proved 00:05:58.439 --> 00:06:00.980 that her influence was so potent that people 00:06:00.980 --> 00:06:03.399 were willing to physically harm themselves to 00:06:03.399 --> 00:06:06.160 emulate her. That is a level of engagement that 00:06:06.160 --> 00:06:08.379 traditional advertising simply cannot buy. No 00:06:08.379 --> 00:06:10.000 amount of money gets you that. It showed that 00:06:10.000 --> 00:06:12.699 the market demand for being Kylie was astronomical. 00:06:13.139 --> 00:06:15.920 So after months of denial, she finally confesses 00:06:15.920 --> 00:06:19.699 in May 2015 on the show. She admits to the fillers. 00:06:19.899 --> 00:06:22.040 She does. And here is where the genius kicks 00:06:22.040 --> 00:06:26.120 in. Most publicists in that situation would say, 00:06:26.220 --> 00:06:30.220 OK. apologize for the lie, go quiet, let the 00:06:30.220 --> 00:06:32.740 news cycle turn. Disappear for a while. Right. 00:06:32.839 --> 00:06:35.720 Let people forget. Kylie's team, led by Kris 00:06:35.720 --> 00:06:38.439 Jenner, did the opposite. They operationalized 00:06:38.439 --> 00:06:41.100 the scandal. They monetized the insecurity. Exactly. 00:06:41.399 --> 00:06:44.079 Three months after the confession, three months, 00:06:44.319 --> 00:06:47.899 in August 2015, she announces the Kylie lip kit. 00:06:48.060 --> 00:06:50.339 It's so fast. She essentially said, you've been 00:06:50.339 --> 00:06:52.879 talking about my lips for a year. Fine. Here's 00:06:52.879 --> 00:06:55.810 the exact product to get them. She took ownership 00:06:55.810 --> 00:06:57.970 of the narrative. It turned the biggest tabloid 00:06:57.970 --> 00:07:00.149 negative into a product feature. It's brilliant 00:07:00.149 --> 00:07:02.350 marketing. And the execution of the launch was 00:07:02.350 --> 00:07:04.870 flawless. They used what we call the DRAP model, 00:07:04.990 --> 00:07:07.649 which was, as you said, borrowed from streetwear 00:07:07.649 --> 00:07:10.110 brands like Supreme. Right. They launched in 00:07:10.110 --> 00:07:13.009 November 2015 with an intentionally limited inventory 00:07:13.009 --> 00:07:16.870 to 15 ,000 kits. And they sold out in, what was 00:07:16.870 --> 00:07:19.629 it, under a minute. Seconds. Literally seconds. 00:07:19.709 --> 00:07:21.970 And because they sold out so fast, the narrative 00:07:21.970 --> 00:07:24.189 wasn't Kylie sells makeup. The narrative was 00:07:24.189 --> 00:07:26.550 Kylie breaks the Internet. The scarcity was the 00:07:26.550 --> 00:07:29.750 story. Precisely. That scarcity created panic 00:07:29.750 --> 00:07:32.350 buying for the next drop and the drop after that. 00:07:32.810 --> 00:07:36.189 By February 2016, she rebrands from the Simple 00:07:36.189 --> 00:07:38.649 Lip Kit to the full Kylie Cosmetics and Scales 00:07:38.649 --> 00:07:42.189 production, up to 500 ,000 kits. That is a massive 00:07:42.189 --> 00:07:44.589 scale -up in just a few months. It's an incredible 00:07:44.589 --> 00:07:46.829 jump. I want to talk about the cost structure 00:07:46.829 --> 00:07:49.290 here, because from the outside, the margins on 00:07:49.290 --> 00:07:51.209 this must have been insane. They were incredible. 00:07:51.610 --> 00:07:54.449 And this is key to understanding her wealth accumulation. 00:07:54.889 --> 00:07:58.470 This was a very lean, very asset light business 00:07:58.470 --> 00:08:00.189 model. What do you mean by that? She didn't build 00:08:00.189 --> 00:08:02.389 a factory. She didn't hire a massive logistics 00:08:02.389 --> 00:08:05.310 team or an R &D department. Yeah. She's a white 00:08:05.310 --> 00:08:07.769 label manufacturer. So a company that already 00:08:07.769 --> 00:08:10.230 makes makeup for other people. Exactly. A company 00:08:10.230 --> 00:08:12.810 called Spatz Laboratories. And she used a company 00:08:12.810 --> 00:08:14.889 called Seed Beauty for the product development 00:08:14.889 --> 00:08:17.839 and fulfillment. She basically outsourced the 00:08:17.839 --> 00:08:20.220 entire back end of the business. So her overhead 00:08:20.220 --> 00:08:23.480 was tiny. Minimal. Her main cost was the cost 00:08:23.480 --> 00:08:26.639 of goods sold and her marketing cost. Effectively 00:08:26.639 --> 00:08:29.620 zero. She didn't buy TV ads. She didn't buy billboards. 00:08:29.740 --> 00:08:32.240 She just posted on Snapchat and Instagram to 00:08:32.240 --> 00:08:35.220 her tens of millions of followers. The glosses 00:08:35.220 --> 00:08:37.820 video. That's a perfect example. I remember that. 00:08:37.879 --> 00:08:40.279 It was like a little movie. Directed by a major 00:08:40.279 --> 00:08:43.019 music video director, Colin Tilly. It wasn't 00:08:43.019 --> 00:08:45.059 a commercial. It was a three -minute action movie 00:08:45.059 --> 00:08:47.320 where she's driving a Rolls Royce in the desert. 00:08:47.419 --> 00:08:50.820 There's a heist. It was content. Right. It blurred 00:08:50.820 --> 00:08:53.500 the line between entertainment and advertising 00:08:53.500 --> 00:08:56.220 in a way that was at the time really revolutionary 00:08:56.220 --> 00:08:59.240 for a cosmetics brand. So she has low overhead, 00:08:59.519 --> 00:09:02.659 zero marketing costs, and a product that sells 00:09:02.659 --> 00:09:05.679 out instantly. She is, for all intents and purposes, 00:09:05.940 --> 00:09:08.080 printing money. Which leads us directly to the 00:09:08.080 --> 00:09:10.480 magazine cover that started a war. Here we go. 00:09:10.559 --> 00:09:13.620 Part two. The billionaire wars. I feel like this 00:09:13.620 --> 00:09:15.600 is where the story gets really technical and 00:09:15.600 --> 00:09:18.399 really messy. It does, because we're moving from 00:09:18.399 --> 00:09:21.679 social media hype into the world of audited financials 00:09:21.679 --> 00:09:23.960 and SEC regulations. It's a whole different beast. 00:09:24.379 --> 00:09:27.399 It is. So fast forward to August 2018. Kylie 00:09:27.399 --> 00:09:29.879 is on the cover of Forbes. The headline estimates 00:09:29.879 --> 00:09:33.070 her net worth at $900 million. And she's only 00:09:33.070 --> 00:09:35.149 20 years old at this point. It's an unbelievable 00:09:35.149 --> 00:09:39.769 number. And then by March 2019. Forbes follows 00:09:39.769 --> 00:09:43.409 up and officially declares her the world's youngest 00:09:43.409 --> 00:09:47.210 self -made billionaire at age 21. She beat Mark 00:09:47.210 --> 00:09:49.250 Zuckerberg. That was the headline everywhere. 00:09:49.590 --> 00:09:51.669 Younger than the founder of Facebook. On paper, 00:09:51.789 --> 00:09:54.029 yes. Yeah. And this announcement sparked two 00:09:54.029 --> 00:09:57.250 massive simultaneous debates. The first was the 00:09:57.250 --> 00:09:59.429 cultural debate over the term self -made. Oh, 00:09:59.429 --> 00:10:01.570 people were furious. I remember the tweets. I 00:10:01.570 --> 00:10:04.230 remember the think pieces. How can you be self 00:10:04.230 --> 00:10:06.929 -made when you're born a Kardashian? It's a valid 00:10:06.929 --> 00:10:09.529 semantic argument. You know, critics argue that 00:10:09.529 --> 00:10:11.389 she was born on third base and thought she hit 00:10:11.389 --> 00:10:14.210 a triple. Right. She had inherited fame, capital 00:10:14.210 --> 00:10:17.049 from her family, a reality show platform, and 00:10:17.049 --> 00:10:20.289 a safety net that 99 .9 % of entrepreneurs just 00:10:20.289 --> 00:10:22.730 do not have. But her family and even people like 00:10:22.730 --> 00:10:25.269 Paris Hilton came out to defend her. They made 00:10:25.269 --> 00:10:27.210 the argument that she didn't inherit the business. 00:10:27.289 --> 00:10:29.450 She built the business using the platform she 00:10:29.450 --> 00:10:32.350 was given. Which is true. But that platform is 00:10:32.350 --> 00:10:34.370 a priceless asset. You can't separate the two. 00:10:34.779 --> 00:10:38.259 However, that entire cultural debate became secondary 00:10:38.259 --> 00:10:41.200 to the financial reality. It did. Because in 00:10:41.200 --> 00:10:44.779 May 2020, Forbes released a bombshell retraction. 00:10:45.039 --> 00:10:48.179 An entire article dedicated to walking it back. 00:10:48.360 --> 00:10:51.559 The headline was incredible. Inside Kylie Jenner's 00:10:51.559 --> 00:10:54.159 web of lies. You can't get much more direct than 00:10:54.159 --> 00:10:56.100 that. They didn't just walk back the number. 00:10:56.259 --> 00:10:59.379 They accused the Jenner camp of actively participating 00:10:59.379 --> 00:11:01.789 in financial engineering and deception. Okay, 00:11:01.889 --> 00:11:03.970 walk us through this. This is where it gets complicated. 00:11:04.250 --> 00:11:07.909 What exactly do Forbes accuse her of? So the 00:11:07.909 --> 00:11:10.210 primary source for that billionaire valuation, 00:11:10.570 --> 00:11:13.409 going back to the 2018 article, was tax returns 00:11:13.409 --> 00:11:16.149 and revenue figures provided directly by Kylie's 00:11:16.149 --> 00:11:18.730 team, specifically her mother and manager, Kris 00:11:18.730 --> 00:11:20.769 Jenner. Okay, so they were handing over documents. 00:11:21.029 --> 00:11:23.029 They were. And these documents claimed the business 00:11:23.029 --> 00:11:25.269 was generating somewhere between $360 million 00:11:25.269 --> 00:11:29.200 and $400 million a year in revenue. Massive numbers. 00:11:29.379 --> 00:11:32.159 And Forbes, a reputable financial magazine, believed 00:11:32.159 --> 00:11:34.960 them. They did. They published the numbers. The 00:11:34.960 --> 00:11:37.019 problem arose when Kylie sold a majority stake 00:11:37.019 --> 00:11:40.600 in her company. In November 2019, she sold a 00:11:40.600 --> 00:11:43.980 51 % stake in Kylie Cosmetics to the beauty conglomerate 00:11:43.980 --> 00:11:47.340 Coty. And she sold it for $600 million. A massive 00:11:47.340 --> 00:11:51.460 exit. $600 million in cash. On the surface, that 00:11:51.460 --> 00:11:53.580 seems to validate the billion -dollar valuation, 00:11:53.840 --> 00:11:58.460 right? A $600 million sale for 51 % values the 00:11:58.460 --> 00:12:01.259 company at roughly $1 .2 billion. Exactly. So 00:12:01.259 --> 00:12:04.940 what was the issue? Here's the catch. Cody is 00:12:04.940 --> 00:12:07.059 a publicly traded company. They are regulated 00:12:07.059 --> 00:12:10.379 by the SEC. They cannot lie to their shareholders 00:12:10.379 --> 00:12:12.620 about the financials of a company they just bought. 00:12:12.879 --> 00:12:16.240 It's illegal. So when Cody released their shareholder 00:12:16.240 --> 00:12:17.860 reports and their investor presentations about 00:12:17.860 --> 00:12:21.580 the acquisition, the real verified audited numbers 00:12:21.580 --> 00:12:23.720 for Kylie Cosmetics came out. And what were the 00:12:23.720 --> 00:12:26.399 real numbers? Kylie Cosmetics wasn't doing $360 00:12:26.399 --> 00:12:29.480 million a year. In 2018, for instance, it did 00:12:29.480 --> 00:12:33.240 about $125 million. Wow. That is that is a significant 00:12:33.240 --> 00:12:35.340 discrepancy. Less than half of what they were 00:12:35.340 --> 00:12:36.940 claiming. It's not even the same ballpark. So 00:12:36.940 --> 00:12:39.200 the implication from Forbes was that for years, 00:12:39.500 --> 00:12:41.860 the Jenner team had been inflating the numbers 00:12:41.860 --> 00:12:43.679 they were giving to the media. That was the direct 00:12:43.679 --> 00:12:46.379 accusation that they had fabricated revenue figures 00:12:46.379 --> 00:12:48.960 and forged tax documents to create the perception 00:12:48.960 --> 00:12:51.559 of a billion dollar brand. So the question is, 00:12:51.580 --> 00:12:54.500 why do that? She was already incredibly rich. 00:12:54.720 --> 00:12:58.039 Why risk fraud accusations just for a title? 00:12:58.179 --> 00:13:00.899 Because in the influencer economy. Perception 00:13:00.899 --> 00:13:04.399 is reality. The title billionaire is a marketing 00:13:04.399 --> 00:13:06.980 tool. It's the ultimate validation for the brand. 00:13:07.200 --> 00:13:09.539 It makes the product seem more desirable. It 00:13:09.539 --> 00:13:11.840 does. It signals to the world this is the winner. 00:13:11.980 --> 00:13:14.600 It creates a mythology around the founder that, 00:13:14.639 --> 00:13:18.519 in turn, drives sales. Being a billionaire wasn't 00:13:18.519 --> 00:13:20.500 just about her bank account. It was about the 00:13:20.500 --> 00:13:23.320 brand's story. So Forbes officially strips the 00:13:23.320 --> 00:13:27.320 title. How did Kylie respond to this Web of Lies 00:13:27.320 --> 00:13:30.350 article? She went straight to Twitter, now X, 00:13:30.429 --> 00:13:32.509 of course. Yeah. She posted a series of tweets 00:13:32.509 --> 00:13:34.450 denying that she'd ever asked for the title and 00:13:34.450 --> 00:13:36.409 denying that she'd ever lied. What was the quote? 00:13:36.610 --> 00:13:39.029 She wrote, I've never asked for any title or 00:13:39.029 --> 00:13:42.409 tried to lie my way there ever, period. But she 00:13:42.409 --> 00:13:44.289 didn't dispute the numbers from the Cotty deal? 00:13:44.450 --> 00:13:46.129 She couldn't. They were in public filings. So 00:13:46.129 --> 00:13:48.370 she sort of sidestepped the core accusation. 00:13:48.409 --> 00:13:50.289 But at the end of the day, she kept the $600 00:13:50.289 --> 00:13:53.309 million from Cotty. And frankly, even after the 00:13:53.309 --> 00:13:56.250 retraction. Forbes re -estimated her net worth 00:13:56.250 --> 00:13:59.830 at around $700 million. So while she wasn't a 00:13:59.830 --> 00:14:02.350 billionaire, she was still snaggeringly successful. 00:14:02.929 --> 00:14:07.129 But the web of lies story, it cracked the armor. 00:14:07.350 --> 00:14:09.730 It showed that the machine wasn't as invincible 00:14:09.730 --> 00:14:12.029 as it looked. And speaking of cracks in the armor, 00:14:12.169 --> 00:14:14.750 let's talk about the diversification phase. Because 00:14:14.750 --> 00:14:17.710 after the wild success of the lip kits, she tried 00:14:17.710 --> 00:14:21.090 to launch everything. This is a classic business 00:14:21.090 --> 00:14:23.519 race. It's called brand dilution. When you have 00:14:23.519 --> 00:14:26.159 a massive hit, the temptation is to slap that 00:14:26.159 --> 00:14:28.340 logo on every product category you can think 00:14:28.340 --> 00:14:30.539 of. And she definitely tried. We had Kylie Skin 00:14:30.539 --> 00:14:33.720 in 2019. Which did, okay, right. It had some 00:14:33.720 --> 00:14:36.259 initial controversy with the walnut scrub, which 00:14:36.259 --> 00:14:38.639 dermatologists panned. Oh, I remember that. People 00:14:38.639 --> 00:14:40.840 were saying it causes micro tears in your skin. 00:14:41.000 --> 00:14:43.179 Exactly. So it wasn't a runaway success like 00:14:43.179 --> 00:14:45.500 the cosmetics line, but it established a foothold. 00:14:45.799 --> 00:14:48.720 Then we had Kylie Baby in 2021. Which made a 00:14:48.720 --> 00:14:50.740 lot of sense from a branding perspective. She 00:14:50.740 --> 00:14:53.120 had pivoted to this motherhood persona, so a 00:14:53.120 --> 00:14:55.360 baby line felt like a natural extension. It did. 00:14:55.519 --> 00:15:00.019 But then we had Kylie Swim. Kylie Swim. September 00:15:00.019 --> 00:15:04.929 2021. This is widely considered her first catastrophic, 00:15:05.190 --> 00:15:07.909 undeniable business failure. The reviews were 00:15:07.909 --> 00:15:10.750 savage. I mean, truly savage. I remember watching 00:15:10.750 --> 00:15:13.789 TikToks of girls opening the packages and the 00:15:13.789 --> 00:15:15.809 fabric was basically sheer. You could see right 00:15:15.809 --> 00:15:19.039 through it. It was described as paper thin. The 00:15:19.039 --> 00:15:21.879 stitching was crooked and uneven. The cuts were 00:15:21.879 --> 00:15:24.740 bizarrely impractical. If you moved even slightly, 00:15:24.980 --> 00:15:27.399 you are at risk of being exposed. The consensus 00:15:27.399 --> 00:15:29.679 critique was that it was swimwear for Instagram 00:15:29.679 --> 00:15:32.899 photos, not for actual swimming. Which kind of 00:15:32.899 --> 00:15:35.059 sums up the whole aesthetic, doesn't it? It does, 00:15:35.320 --> 00:15:37.840 but it also showed the limits of her power. You 00:15:37.840 --> 00:15:39.960 can hype a product to your 300 million followers, 00:15:40.220 --> 00:15:42.980 but if the quality is visibly terrible, the backlash 00:15:42.980 --> 00:15:45.389 is instant and overwhelming. It showed that her 00:15:45.389 --> 00:15:47.970 fans weren't just mindless drones. They expected 00:15:47.970 --> 00:15:50.409 a certain level of value for their money. And 00:15:50.409 --> 00:15:53.070 Kylie Swim did not deliver, to put it mildly. 00:15:53.129 --> 00:15:54.529 And she didn't stop there with the launches. 00:15:54.570 --> 00:15:56.169 We have to mention the more recent ventures. 00:15:56.230 --> 00:15:59.629 In late 2024, she launched Kai. Her clothing 00:15:59.629 --> 00:16:02.330 line. And this was an interesting pivot because 00:16:02.330 --> 00:16:04.809 she seemed to be aiming higher. She collaborated 00:16:04.809 --> 00:16:07.830 with respected designers like Antonin Tron. Right. 00:16:07.909 --> 00:16:09.929 It wasn't just merch with her name on it. Exactly. 00:16:10.149 --> 00:16:12.129 It was an attempt to be taken more seriously 00:16:12.129 --> 00:16:14.870 in the high fashion world, moving from mall brand 00:16:14.870 --> 00:16:17.529 to designer. And then just last year, Sprinter. 00:16:18.289 --> 00:16:21.490 The canned cocktails? The vodka soda in a can, 00:16:21.669 --> 00:16:24.190 which again is just monetizing the lifestyle. 00:16:24.649 --> 00:16:27.009 Drink what Kylie drinks at her parties. It's 00:16:27.009 --> 00:16:30.049 a very low barrier to entry product with extremely 00:16:30.049 --> 00:16:32.950 high margins. One of the things that always fascinates 00:16:32.950 --> 00:16:35.450 me about our business strategy is the aggression 00:16:35.450 --> 00:16:38.259 regarding trademarks. She tries to own words, 00:16:38.440 --> 00:16:41.220 common words. The trademark machine is relentless. 00:16:41.460 --> 00:16:43.860 It's a core part of the business model. The rise 00:16:43.860 --> 00:16:46.200 and shine moment is the perfect example. It really 00:16:46.200 --> 00:16:50.100 is. So October 2019, a simple clip of her walking 00:16:50.100 --> 00:16:52.000 into Stormy's room and seeing rise and shine 00:16:52.000 --> 00:16:54.740 goes viral, becomes a huge meme. It was everywhere 00:16:54.740 --> 00:16:58.500 for like a week. And within days, her team files 00:16:58.500 --> 00:17:02.019 to trademark the phrase rise and shine for use 00:17:02.019 --> 00:17:04.720 on cosmetics and clothing. She even filed for 00:17:04.720 --> 00:17:07.500 a raise in Sheeny with the dragged out spelling 00:17:07.500 --> 00:17:11.259 to cover all her bases. It shows how reactive 00:17:11.259 --> 00:17:14.119 her business team is. I see a flicker of a meme 00:17:14.119 --> 00:17:16.660 and the immediate instinct is to try and legally 00:17:16.660 --> 00:17:19.240 own it and monetize it. But she doesn't always 00:17:19.240 --> 00:17:21.279 win these battles. We have to talk about the 00:17:21.279 --> 00:17:23.759 battle of the Kylies. Kylie Minogue versus Kylie 00:17:23.759 --> 00:17:27.170 Jenner. A true... Clash of the Titans. This is 00:17:27.170 --> 00:17:29.589 my favorite of her legal battles, I think. It's 00:17:29.589 --> 00:17:32.589 a great one. So in 2015, Jenner's team filed 00:17:32.589 --> 00:17:35.329 to trademark the name Kylie, just the first name, 00:17:35.450 --> 00:17:38.230 for advertising and endorsement services. A pretty 00:17:38.230 --> 00:17:40.609 bold move. Very gold. And Kylie Minogue's legal 00:17:40.609 --> 00:17:44.349 team was not having it. They were not. They filed 00:17:44.349 --> 00:17:47.250 a formal opposition. And the language they used 00:17:47.250 --> 00:17:49.809 in the filing was just brutal. They referred 00:17:49.809 --> 00:17:53.109 to Kylie Jenner as a secondary reality. television 00:17:53.109 --> 00:17:56.369 personality. Secondary? That is just devastatingly 00:17:56.369 --> 00:17:58.769 shady. And then in the same document, they described 00:17:58.769 --> 00:18:01.910 their client, Kylie Minogue, as an internationally 00:18:01.910 --> 00:18:04.549 acclaimed recording artist, humanitarian, and 00:18:04.549 --> 00:18:06.490 breast cancer activist. Drawing a very clear 00:18:06.490 --> 00:18:09.730 line in the sand. And Minogue won. In February 00:18:09.730 --> 00:18:13.450 2017, the U .S. Patent and Trademark Office rejected 00:18:13.450 --> 00:18:16.130 Jenner's claim. I love that. It's a reality check. 00:18:16.349 --> 00:18:18.630 You might be the most famous person on Instagram, 00:18:18.750 --> 00:18:22.039 but you do not own the name Kylie. And it also 00:18:22.039 --> 00:18:24.720 highlights this interesting friction between 00:18:24.720 --> 00:18:29.859 new fame, internet fame, and legacy fame, which 00:18:29.859 --> 00:18:32.519 is built over decades. It wasn't just trademarks, 00:18:32.519 --> 00:18:34.640 though. There were some really serious accusations 00:18:34.640 --> 00:18:37.660 of stealing ideas from other artists. Intellectual 00:18:37.660 --> 00:18:39.900 property disputes are incredibly common in the 00:18:39.900 --> 00:18:42.380 fashion and beauty industries. But Kylie seemed 00:18:42.380 --> 00:18:44.200 to have a lot of them in a short period. There 00:18:44.200 --> 00:18:47.920 was the Vlada Hagerty case in 2017. Right. Vlada 00:18:47.920 --> 00:18:50.380 was a makeup artist who was known for this very 00:18:50.380 --> 00:18:53.140 specific aesthetic of dripping gloss lips and 00:18:53.140 --> 00:18:55.759 hands painted with metallic colors. She posted 00:18:55.759 --> 00:18:57.779 a photo of gold -painted fingers and a dripping 00:18:57.779 --> 00:19:00.180 red lip. And a few weeks later, Kylie Cosmetics 00:19:00.180 --> 00:19:02.819 posted an image for a holiday campaign that looked 00:19:02.819 --> 00:19:04.819 almost identical. It was strikingly similar. 00:19:04.940 --> 00:19:07.079 The composition, the colors, everything. Flotta 00:19:07.079 --> 00:19:09.799 sued, and unlike most of these cases that just 00:19:09.799 --> 00:19:12.339 disappear, this one resulted in a public outcome. 00:19:12.579 --> 00:19:14.700 What happened? They reached an undisclosed settlement. 00:19:14.859 --> 00:19:17.099 But part of it was that Kylie actually had to 00:19:17.099 --> 00:19:20.200 credit Flotta on her social media. She posted 00:19:20.200 --> 00:19:23.339 the original image and tagged the artist. which 00:19:23.339 --> 00:19:25.440 is a rare admission that they essentially got 00:19:25.440 --> 00:19:27.539 caught listing the aesthetic. And then the Seed 00:19:27.539 --> 00:19:30.880 Beauty lawsuit. This one feels much more corporate 00:19:30.880 --> 00:19:33.940 and complex. This is the heavy stuff. This goes 00:19:33.940 --> 00:19:36.779 back to the Cody deal. So Seed Beauty was the 00:19:36.779 --> 00:19:38.839 manufacturer, the company that actually made 00:19:38.839 --> 00:19:41.099 the lip kits and fulfilled the orders. The engine 00:19:41.099 --> 00:19:44.019 behind the whole operation. Exactly. When Kylie 00:19:44.019 --> 00:19:47.839 sold to Cody, Seed sued them both. They alleged 00:19:47.839 --> 00:19:50.740 that the entire deal was a subterfuge. That was 00:19:50.740 --> 00:19:53.480 the word they used. A scheme to steal their trade 00:19:53.480 --> 00:19:55.859 secrets and hand them over to Cody, which is 00:19:55.859 --> 00:19:57.599 one of the biggest beauty companies in the world. 00:19:57.779 --> 00:20:00.400 So Seed was essentially saying, we built your 00:20:00.400 --> 00:20:02.819 entire product line and now you're selling our 00:20:02.819 --> 00:20:05.900 secret recipes to our biggest competitor. Precisely. 00:20:06.019 --> 00:20:09.059 The lawsuit revealed just how much Kylie's business 00:20:09.059 --> 00:20:11.980 was really a shell built on top of Seed's proprietary 00:20:11.980 --> 00:20:14.859 technology and processes. We also have to touch 00:20:14.859 --> 00:20:17.119 on the supply chain issues, the global brands 00:20:17.119 --> 00:20:20.230 group controversy back in 2020. This was a significant 00:20:20.230 --> 00:20:22.509 reputational risk, and it happened right in the 00:20:22.509 --> 00:20:24.789 middle of the pandemic. Reports surfaced that 00:20:24.789 --> 00:20:27.430 Global Brands Group, a company that listed the 00:20:27.430 --> 00:20:29.970 Kendall plus Kylie brand on its website as a 00:20:29.970 --> 00:20:32.630 partner, was failing to pay its garment workers 00:20:32.630 --> 00:20:34.769 in Bangladesh for orders that were canceled. 00:20:34.970 --> 00:20:37.829 This was part of the big hashtag pay up campaign 00:20:37.829 --> 00:20:39.890 on social media. Right. And the Jenner response 00:20:39.890 --> 00:20:44.369 was very corporate. Yeah. Very legal. They issued 00:20:44.369 --> 00:20:46.109 a statement saying their brand was technically 00:20:46.109 --> 00:20:48.759 owned by a separate entity. a numbered company, 00:20:48.960 --> 00:20:53.680 3072541 Canada Inc. So creating distance. And 00:20:53.680 --> 00:20:55.819 they said they had no current relationship with 00:20:55.819 --> 00:20:58.059 Global Brands Group, even though they had worked 00:20:58.059 --> 00:21:00.539 with them in sales in the past. It was an attempt 00:21:00.539 --> 00:21:02.400 to distance themselves from the manufacturing 00:21:02.400 --> 00:21:05.049 liability. That's not us anymore. Essentially. 00:21:05.589 --> 00:21:08.509 It highlights the complex and often opaque web 00:21:08.509 --> 00:21:10.670 of licensing deals that make up these celebrity 00:21:10.670 --> 00:21:13.509 brands. It's often incredibly hard to tell who 00:21:13.509 --> 00:21:15.450 is actually responsible for the worker on the 00:21:15.450 --> 00:21:18.410 factory floor. It really is. So, okay, we've 00:21:18.410 --> 00:21:20.289 covered the business, the scandals, the legal 00:21:20.289 --> 00:21:23.170 battles, but we can't do a deep dive on Kylie 00:21:23.170 --> 00:21:25.210 without talking about her personal life. You 00:21:25.210 --> 00:21:27.349 can't. Because in this ecosystem, the personal 00:21:27.349 --> 00:21:29.670 life is the business strategy. They are one and 00:21:29.670 --> 00:21:32.329 the same. We call them content pillars in the 00:21:32.329 --> 00:21:35.670 branding world. And if you track her major relationships, 00:21:35.970 --> 00:21:38.269 they align almost perfectly with her brand evolution 00:21:38.269 --> 00:21:41.150 and her attempts to expand into new demographics. 00:21:41.470 --> 00:21:43.910 Let's start with Tyga. The Tyga era, roughly 00:21:43.910 --> 00:21:47.650 2014 to 2017. This was controversial from the 00:21:47.650 --> 00:21:49.589 start because of the age gap. Right. She was 00:21:49.589 --> 00:21:52.490 17 when they met and he was in his mid -20s. 00:21:52.630 --> 00:21:55.109 They didn't go official until she was 18. Exactly. 00:21:55.660 --> 00:21:58.539 But from a brand perspective, Tyga served a very 00:21:58.539 --> 00:22:01.400 specific purpose. He was her entry point into 00:22:01.400 --> 00:22:03.500 the hip -hop world. She was in his music videos, 00:22:03.759 --> 00:22:07.259 stimulated, doped up. It shifted her image away 00:22:07.259 --> 00:22:09.599 from the little sister on a family reality show 00:22:09.599 --> 00:22:12.579 to something more like a video vixen. It gave 00:22:12.579 --> 00:22:14.920 her an edge that appealed to a cooler, younger, 00:22:15.039 --> 00:22:18.720 more urban demographic that KUWTK wasn't reaching. 00:22:18.859 --> 00:22:21.740 And then after Tyga came Travis Scott. A major 00:22:21.740 --> 00:22:24.970 upgrade in terms of cultural cachet. They met 00:22:24.970 --> 00:22:28.730 at Coachella in 2017. This solidified her status 00:22:28.730 --> 00:22:31.750 in the A -list music world. But the defining 00:22:31.750 --> 00:22:33.710 moment of that relationship wasn't the relationship 00:22:33.710 --> 00:22:37.140 itself, it was the pregnancy. The secret pregnancy. 00:22:37.579 --> 00:22:40.160 I still think this is one of the most impressive 00:22:40.160 --> 00:22:43.119 feats of PR in the last decade. I mean, for a 00:22:43.119 --> 00:22:45.220 member of that family to disappear completely. 00:22:45.619 --> 00:22:49.200 It was a master class in strategic silence. In 00:22:49.200 --> 00:22:51.440 an attention economy, when you are constantly 00:22:51.440 --> 00:22:53.960 overexposed, the most valuable thing you can 00:22:53.960 --> 00:22:56.160 offer your audience is mystery. She created a 00:22:56.160 --> 00:22:58.789 vacuum. A total vacuum. Everyone wanted to know 00:22:58.789 --> 00:23:01.630 where she was. Speculation was rampant. It drove 00:23:01.630 --> 00:23:03.410 engagement through the roof without her having 00:23:03.410 --> 00:23:05.329 to post a single thing. And when she finally 00:23:05.329 --> 00:23:08.349 dropped that video to her daughter in February 00:23:08.349 --> 00:23:12.069 2018, after Stormi was born. It broke the internet 00:23:12.069 --> 00:23:14.769 all over again. And notice the rebrand that happened 00:23:14.769 --> 00:23:16.630 in that moment. She went from the wild child 00:23:16.630 --> 00:23:18.309 with the lip fillers and the rapper boyfriend 00:23:18.309 --> 00:23:21.890 to Stormi's mom. It softened her image instantly. 00:23:22.230 --> 00:23:24.089 And of course, it laid the commercial groundwork 00:23:24.089 --> 00:23:26.170 for Kylie Baby, which would launch a few years 00:23:26.170 --> 00:23:28.470 later. Always selling. It's always about the 00:23:28.470 --> 00:23:31.329 next product. They had a second child, Air, in 00:23:31.329 --> 00:23:33.930 2022, but their relationship with Travis was 00:23:33.930 --> 00:23:37.630 famously on and off. Very much so. And that final 00:23:37.630 --> 00:23:41.630 off status in early 2023 opened the door for 00:23:41.630 --> 00:23:44.559 the current era. the timothy chalamet era i remember 00:23:44.559 --> 00:23:47.400 when the rumors started in april 2023 i thought 00:23:47.400 --> 00:23:48.920 it was a joke i thought it was a fan fiction 00:23:48.920 --> 00:23:51.819 headline timothy chalamet the indie darling the 00:23:51.819 --> 00:23:55.119 dune guy and kylie jenner on paper it seemed 00:23:55.119 --> 00:23:58.059 like a complete mismatch of brands he represents 00:23:58.059 --> 00:24:01.099 high art and prestige cinema She represents commercial 00:24:01.099 --> 00:24:03.599 reality TV and influencer culture. Two different 00:24:03.599 --> 00:24:05.640 universes. But when they stepped out publicly, 00:24:05.839 --> 00:24:08.640 especially at the Golden Globes in 2024, it sent 00:24:08.640 --> 00:24:11.180 a very clear signal. What was the signal? The 00:24:11.180 --> 00:24:14.680 signal was, I am not just an influencer. I am 00:24:14.680 --> 00:24:17.519 Hollywood. Dating Timothee Chalamet creates a 00:24:17.519 --> 00:24:20.630 proximity to prestige that money can't buy. It 00:24:20.630 --> 00:24:22.950 legitimizes her in circles that previously might 00:24:22.950 --> 00:24:25.029 have looked down on the Kardashians. It's a strategic 00:24:25.029 --> 00:24:27.869 social move that has business implications. Absolutely. 00:24:27.970 --> 00:24:29.750 Which brings us perfectly to where we are right 00:24:29.750 --> 00:24:33.450 now in 2026, because she is making this massive 00:24:33.450 --> 00:24:36.680 career change. She is acting. She is. She has 00:24:36.680 --> 00:24:39.079 a starring role in the film The Moment, which 00:24:39.079 --> 00:24:41.259 is set to come out this year. And it's not like 00:24:41.259 --> 00:24:43.559 a throwaway comedy or a cameo. It's produced 00:24:43.559 --> 00:24:47.880 by Charlie XCX and Studio 365. It has this indie 00:24:47.880 --> 00:24:50.839 cool girl vibe to it. This is a very significant 00:24:50.839 --> 00:24:53.539 move. Yeah. You know, Kim Kardashian tried to 00:24:53.539 --> 00:24:56.140 act. And while she had some moments in Tyler 00:24:56.140 --> 00:24:59.079 Perry movies, she never fully crossed over into 00:24:59.079 --> 00:25:01.970 being considered a thespian. Right. Kylie is 00:25:01.970 --> 00:25:03.470 trying to make that jump. She wants to be taken 00:25:03.470 --> 00:25:05.950 seriously as a talent, not just a personality. 00:25:06.250 --> 00:25:08.170 Do you think she can pull it off? Can she actually 00:25:08.170 --> 00:25:10.630 act? That is the billion -dollar question, isn't 00:25:10.630 --> 00:25:12.569 it? She has spent her entire life performing 00:25:12.569 --> 00:25:14.970 for a camera, so she's comfortable there. But 00:25:14.970 --> 00:25:17.309 reality TV performance is very, very different 00:25:17.309 --> 00:25:19.450 from scripted character work. A completely different 00:25:19.450 --> 00:25:22.369 skill set. If she succeeds, if she gets good 00:25:22.369 --> 00:25:24.869 reviews, she extends her career by decades. If 00:25:24.869 --> 00:25:27.529 she fails, if she's panned, it just reinforces 00:25:27.529 --> 00:25:29.970 the trashy reality star stereotype she's been 00:25:29.970 --> 00:25:32.380 trying to escape. She's also still breaking records 00:25:32.380 --> 00:25:34.559 on social media, which is kind of mind -boggling. 00:25:34.619 --> 00:25:37.859 She was the first woman to hit 300 million followers 00:25:37.859 --> 00:25:40.720 on Instagram back in 2022. And just holding that 00:25:40.720 --> 00:25:43.380 level of attention for nearly 20 years is unprecedented. 00:25:44.079 --> 00:25:46.480 Usually, internet fame has a half -life of about 00:25:46.480 --> 00:25:49.220 18 months. She has stayed relevant through the 00:25:49.220 --> 00:25:53.460 age of Vine, Snapchat, Instagram, TikTok. She 00:25:53.460 --> 00:25:55.519 adapts to the medium. Even with the music video 00:25:55.519 --> 00:25:58.579 cameos. I mean, she was in WAP with Cardi B and 00:25:58.579 --> 00:26:00.799 Megan Thee Stallion. Which sparked a petition 00:26:00.799 --> 00:26:03.019 with hundreds of thousands of signatures to have 00:26:03.019 --> 00:26:05.410 her removed from the video. People were furious. 00:26:05.769 --> 00:26:09.170 But again, controversy creates cash. It kept 00:26:09.170 --> 00:26:10.990 her name in the conversation. And more recently, 00:26:11.049 --> 00:26:13.410 appearing in A .G. Cook's video for Residue. 00:26:13.470 --> 00:26:16.069 A much more niche calculated move. Very. She 00:26:16.069 --> 00:26:18.430 is aligning herself with the hyper pop avant 00:26:18.430 --> 00:26:21.450 -garde crowd. It's a very specific rebranding 00:26:21.450 --> 00:26:24.109 strategy to appear culturally relevant to the 00:26:24.109 --> 00:26:26.650 Gen Z and Gen Alpha audience that might not watch 00:26:26.650 --> 00:26:29.460 her family show. So. Okay, if we step back and 00:26:29.460 --> 00:26:31.839 look at the whole picture, from the lip kits 00:26:31.839 --> 00:26:35.240 to the Forbes scandal to this acting pivot, what 00:26:35.240 --> 00:26:37.180 is the big takeaway? What's the lesson here? 00:26:37.380 --> 00:26:40.359 For me, it's that Kylie Jenner is a mirror for 00:26:40.359 --> 00:26:43.539 the modern economy. She proved that you can monetize 00:26:43.539 --> 00:26:46.279 anything, your face, your relationships, your 00:26:46.279 --> 00:26:48.759 children, even your own insecurities, if you 00:26:48.759 --> 00:26:51.619 package it right. I agree. She represents the 00:26:51.619 --> 00:26:54.759 attention as currency. thesis. She proved that 00:26:54.759 --> 00:26:57.380 in the 21st century, attention is more valuable 00:26:57.380 --> 00:27:00.180 than oil or gold. If you have the eyeballs, you 00:27:00.180 --> 00:27:03.880 can sell the product, but there's a but. The 00:27:03.880 --> 00:27:06.339 Forbes retraction and the Kylie Swim flop show 00:27:06.339 --> 00:27:08.259 that there is a limit. Yeah. You can bluff your 00:27:08.259 --> 00:27:10.500 way to a title and you can hype a bad swimsuit, 00:27:10.519 --> 00:27:12.579 but eventually the truth comes out. It comes 00:27:12.579 --> 00:27:14.940 out in the tax returns or the customer reviews. 00:27:15.019 --> 00:27:17.799 Exactly. You cannot fake quality or truth forever. 00:27:18.079 --> 00:27:20.460 Gravity always wins. And that's what makes this 00:27:20.460 --> 00:27:23.720 2026 acting pivot so interesting because you 00:27:23.720 --> 00:27:25.660 can't really fake acting, not in a serious film. 00:27:25.759 --> 00:27:28.160 The camera catches everything. It does. She is 00:27:28.160 --> 00:27:30.299 moving from an arena where she controls the edit, 00:27:30.339 --> 00:27:33.079 her Instagram feed, her reality show to an arena. 00:27:38.299 --> 00:27:41.380 So here is a provocative thought to leave you 00:27:41.380 --> 00:27:44.500 with as we wrap up. Kylie is clearly diversifying. 00:27:44.599 --> 00:27:47.059 She's moving away from just being Kylie the face. 00:27:47.279 --> 00:27:49.720 She's acting. She's doing clothing with Kai that 00:27:49.720 --> 00:27:53.279 focuses on design. She's doing Sprinter. Is she 00:27:53.279 --> 00:27:56.220 acknowledging? Maybe subconsciously that the 00:27:56.220 --> 00:27:59.160 influencer economy has a ceiling, that a personal 00:27:59.160 --> 00:28:01.720 brand built entirely on your own face and life 00:28:01.720 --> 00:28:04.380 has a shelf life. I think she is. I think she 00:28:04.380 --> 00:28:06.880 knows that King Kylie cannot reign forever. A 00:28:06.880 --> 00:28:09.500 meme can only last so long. She is trying to 00:28:09.500 --> 00:28:11.880 build a legacy that exists outside of just being 00:28:11.880 --> 00:28:14.559 the youngest sister. The real question is, will 00:28:14.559 --> 00:28:17.539 the audience let her evolve? Or is she trapped 00:28:17.539 --> 00:28:20.460 in the caricature she so brilliantly built? Something 00:28:20.460 --> 00:28:22.200 to think about. Thanks for diving in with us 00:28:22.200 --> 00:28:23.900 on this one. Always a pleasure. We'll catch you 00:28:23.900 --> 00:28:24.759 on the next deep dive.