Coty picks up $200m stake in Kim Kardashian West’s beauty brand KKW
Coty is to buy a 20 per cent stake in Kim Kardashian West’s make-up brand KKW, valuing the reality TV star’s business at $1bn (£810m).
The deal, which will see cosmetics giant put $200m into the celebrity’s beauty line, sent Coty’s shares skyrocketing 17 per cent in pre-market US trading.
It means that West’s beauty business is valued slightly lower than that of her sister, Kylie Jenner.
Coty bought a majority stake in Jenner’s namesake cosmetics business earlier this year, which valued it at $1.2bn.
West, who is best known for starring in reality TV juggernaut Keeping Up With The Kardashians, alongside her sisters, launched KKW in 2017 – two years after Jenner launched a beauty brand.
The acquisition of major stakes in West and Jenner’s brands is a step towards modernising Coty’s portfolio, which also includes brands such as Cover Girl and Max Factor.
The company is billions of dollars in debt amid slowing sales, and has lost about 62 per cent of its market value this year alone.
Between them, the two sisters have 359m followers on Instagram, something Coty will hope to harness as it embraces direct-to-consumer online sales via social media.
Coty said the deal will likely close in the second half of next year.