Kim Kardashian joins the billionaire club for the first time

'Forbes' estimates that the celebrity entrepreneur is now worth $1 billion, up from $780 million in October

Kim Kardashian joins her soon-to-be ex-husband Kanye West in the billionaire club. AFP 

Kim Kardashian has added "billionaire" to her resume.

The cosmetics and shapewear businesswoman, who launched her career off the reality TV series Keeping Up with The Kardashians, was included on Tuesday for the first time on Forbes magazine's list of the world's billionaires.

Forbes said it estimates that Kardashian, 40, "is now worth $1 billion, up from $780 million in October, thanks to two lucrative businesses – KKW and Skims – as well as cash from reality television and endorsement deals, and a number of smaller investments".

The estimate means Kardashian joins her soon-to-be ex-husband Kanye West in the billionaire's club. Forbes estimates West's net worth at $1.8bn, mostly from deals on his Yeezy sneaker and fashion line.

Kardashian filed for divorce from West, 43, in February, citing irreconcilable differences.

Her half-sister Kylie Jenner, however, lost her billionaire status, Forbes said. It values her fortune at around $700m, citing a tough year for cosmetic sales during the coronavirus pandemic and what it said were previous overestimates of revenue from Kylie Cosmetics, now 51 per cent owned by Coty Inc.

Kardashian founded KKW Beauty in 2017, promoting and selling the products online, helped by a social media presence that includes about 213 million Instagram followers. She launched the multihued shapewear line Skims in 2019.

Kardashian celebrated on Tuesday by posting a photo of herself in a bikini on a beach, with the caption "Bliss", and announcing the launch of the first Skims pop-up shop at a high-end shopping mall in Los Angeles.

Divorce from Kanye West

In February, it was announced that Kardashian would be divorcing West after nearly seven years of marriage.

Celebrity website TMZ cited unidentified sources that said the split was amicable and that Kardashian had asked for joint custody of the couple's four children. The grounds for the divorce were not immediately known.

The filing followed months of leaks and reports that the marriage between the two celebrities was on the rocks.

The end of the marriage comes after the September announcement that the show Keeping Up With The Kardashians was coming to an end in 2021 after 14 years.

Additional reporting by The National