Remember when Kylie Jenner sold off a majority stake of her Kylie Cosmetics empire? She made an easy $600 million from that deal, and now her sister might be following suit. But there’s one major problem: Kim Kardashian’s getting sued by KKW Beauty’s company developer and manufacturer over the decision.
According to Forbes, California-based Seed Beauty is concerned that Kim, 39, will expose “trade secrets” if she sells KKW Beauty to their competitor, Coty. And apparently, their worries are based on experience: Back in November 2019, Kylie, 22, sold 51 percent of her Kylie Cosmetics brand to the competing beauty developer. Now, Seed Beauty may have reason to believe that Kylie already disclosed confidential details about their business model and “contracts related to its various product lines” to Coty after she closed their deal around January. According to their suit, Seed requested that Kylie Cosmetics confirm they had not shared classified information—but after “numerous” attempts to get an answer, Kylie and her team failed to confirm or deny the request.
Seed Beauty can still sue Kylie Cosmetics over that, too. But for now, they’re focusing on the main issue at hand: Kim’s desire to sell. It appears they’re doing what they can to slow this process, alleging that it poses a “concrete threat” to Seed’s integrity, according to Forbes. Their request to the California court is that KKW Beauty is barred from sharing their trade secrets, which are otherwise “essential to Seed Beauty’s competitive position in the beauty and cosmetics industry.”
While there’s no word yet from Kim or Kylie on the matter, it’s probably only a matter of time before we hear about the future of KKW Beauty. Kylie’s sell last year was a major move for the reality star, launching her just into what Forbes considered at the time to be billionaire status. That is, until, the outlet alleged that the youngest Keeping Up With the Kardashians star had falsified her tax documents that led to her net worth estimation. While Kylie’s since denied the claims, it remains clear there is some suspicion around her business dealings. Let’s see if the same can be said for Kim in a few months’ time.