When it comes to working with family, we’ve got to give Kris Jenner her dues for making it work like a charm. The matriarch of the Kardashian-Jenner family has done a spectacular job, enough to have made two billionaires out of her children.
Behind the scenes of the Kardashian Jenner empire, Kris is running the show, and her methods can be anything from making Kendall and Kylie complete a beauty step before filming to earning her well-documented 10% cut from all her daughters’ ventures. She has coined a new term, ‘momager’, that describes what she does. Here’s what it looks like to be a ‘momager’ when you are Kris Jenner.
8 Kris Jenner Got Started By Managing Caitlyn Jenner
Before Kris Jenner ever tried her hand at managing her children’s super successful lives, she was learning the ropes by managing her former spouse, Caitlyn Jenner. Jenner, at the time, had gained recognition following a six-year athletic stint. Jenner's win at the Olympic decathlon event held in Quebec, Canada in 1976 made her a national hero, and, as a result of the fame, several speaking engagements often managed by Kris were the way to go.
7 Kris Jenner Became Kim Kardashian’s ‘Momager’
Kris Jenner’s management of Caitlyn Jenner was only but the beginning. When Kim Kardashian got famous off of a leaked tape, she was next in line. On how she felt about the scandal, Kris Jenner said, “When I first heard about Kim’s tape, as her mother, I wanted to kill her, but as her manager, I knew that I had a job to do.” Kris Jenner was tasked with making her bookings. Her being a ‘momager’ simply meant she was a mom who also managed her children. Sometimes Kim was getting interviewed on Tyra Banks’ show, or appearing on the cover of Playboy. Whatever public appearances she had going on, Kris made it all happen.
6 Then Came Kendall Jenner’s Modeling Career
Kris Jenner is not one to miss an opportunity to make her family money when need be. For a long time, Kendall Jenner had talked about wanting to be a model. Kris wasn’t sure whether she was serious about it. When she showed a level of commitment by presenting a portfolio, Kris Jenner went full ‘momager’ mode. “If this is what Kendall really wants to do, then I’m on board and I’ll get the word out,” Kris said. True to her words, she set Kendall up with a modeling agency. In 2018, Forbes reported that Kendall Jenner was the world’s highest-paid model, raking in an estimated $22.5 million.
5 Kylie, Kourtney And Khloé Have Their Own Ventures
In addition to Kim’s growing empire that now includes Kim Kardashian West Beauty and SKIMS, a women’s shapewear brand, Kris Jenner’s other girls are doing just fine as businesswise. Kylie Jenner has managed to successfully build her own beauty brand, Kylie Cosmetics, which has rendered her net worth to be somewhere near a billion dollars. Khloe Kardashian runs Good American, a line of clothing targeted at women, while Kourtney is the founder of Poosh.
4 Kris Jenner Was Almost Fired By Kim Kardashian
Early on Keeping Up With the Kardashians, Kim had gotten tired of being managed by her mom since sometimes Kris took on more than she could handle. She set up meetings with a couple of talent managers and seemed serious about pulling the plug. “If I had a different manager, they would have a whole staff of people. They would just be a little bit more professional,” Kim said. She was unhappy with how she was being handled and overbooked, but in the long run, Kris stayed as her manager.
3 As 'Momager', Kris Jenner Gets A 10% Cut
In 2020, Forbes estimated that Kris Jenner raked in at least $100,000 from every episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians. This was in addition to her notorious 10% cut from managing her children. That, plus an additional stake in some of the businesses, an autobiography, and a cookbook, placed Kris’ net worth at an estimated $190 million.
2 Kris Jenner Has Since Gotten A Team
As Keeping Up With the Kardashians grew, so did the businesses that the Kardashian sisters were involved in. What started as just Smooch and Dash stores grew into the Kardashian sisters owning their own clothing lines, shoe lines, home lines, fragrances, and handbags, with them being involved in the design process. Asked whether she set up the deals, Kris Jenner said, “Yes! You know, I have a team. I used to be a one-man show and then I realized, you know, it takes a village.”
1 And Kris Jenner Leveraged Social Media
In addition to having multiple businesses, the Kardashian sisters have leveraged social media to bring in more than six figures. “My girls are constantly getting offers to post something for a company or a brand on social media, so they have a fee for a post or a fee for a story. A fee for facebook, a fee for, you know, they have a fee schedule,” Jenner said at a past interview. On who brings in the most, Kris Jenner said that social media prices are a bit higher when it comes to Kylie and Kim.