With her net worth at a staggering $68 million according to Forbes magazine, 2014 has been the most lucrative year yet for Kim Kardashian, who has earned a staggering $28 million in just 12 months.
Thanks to her appearance on a string of magazine covers, including the highly coveted Vogue and her extravagant marriage to Kanye West which spanned four days and two cities, the 34 year-old has seen her stock rise even higher making almost triple of what she brought in during the twelve months before. From June 2012 - 2013 Kim made $10 million, meaning she added an extra $18 million to her earning power in just 12 months. So where has it all come from?
Kim's earning power: How did she build her $64 million empire?
Even before fame Kim was already considerably wealthy. Her father, Robert Kardashian Snr left his $100 million estate in a trust fund to be divided between his four children when he passed away in 2003. She also earned a cool $5 million from Vivid Entertainment for the release of her sextape with Ray-J, meaning even before the launch of Keeping Up With The Kardashians, Kim was building her empire.
Appearances and Endorsements: Kim's earning power seems to be pretty reliant on working her way up the A-List. The more in demand she becomes, the more she can command for public appearances and brand endorsement. In 2014 there was no bigger celebrity than Kim, meaning she could command insane appearance prices. According to Forbes Kim made more out of public appearances than reality TV and can command anything from $100,000 to $1 million to hit a party or club. Sponsorship and endorsement deals are also believed to earn Kim millions, according to the Richest.com and as her star gets higher she can command even bigger pay cheques from companies desperate to have their brand linked to golden Kim.
Reality TV: Not that TV isn't working for her, it's interesting that Kim picked up a pay-check from E! for both the tenth season of Keeping Up With The Kardashians and Khloe and Kourtney Take The Hamptons, proving for the hit TV show, she's still the star. Kris Jenner signed a $40 million deal with E! in 2012 for the hit reality TV show and it's rumoured Kim picks up between $40,000-80,000 for each episode she features in.
(KimKardashian/Instagram)
E! are also rumoured to have spent $15 million for the rights to air exclusive footage in the build up to Kim and Kanye's wedding day. While the ceremony itself was kept private, footage from her wedding dress fitting, the pre-party in Paris and the actual morning of the wedding in Florence all featured in the wedding special, safely the most talked about celebrity event of 2014.
Kardashian Brands: Kim also takes a nice slice from the Kardashain Kollection clothing line with sisters Khloe and Kourtney. The clothing line sold by Sears earned around $600 million in 2013 alone, with the sisters taking a combined cut of $30 million. There's also the earnings from the sisters Dash stores which currently have locations in Miami, New York and Los Angeles and their Kardashian brand make-up.
The Kanye West factor While Kim and Kanye don't make money as a duo - we can't see West, who has a net worth of an estimated $100 million, going in for a Kimye spin-off show, the marriage has helped raise the couple's earning potentials.
Through Kanye's connections Kim's found her way onto the A list, would she have posed on the cover of Vogue if she was still married to Kris Humphries? She's now front row for Givenchy and Balmain boosting her brand's worth and potential worth. Would Paper Magazine really put a naked Kim on the cover if she hadn't already made the transition to the A-list?
(KimKardashian/Instagram)
Unlike her 2011 wedding to Kris Humpries, Kim stressed that she wanted her marriage celebration to Kanye West to be private. She also appeared to avoid cashing in on the big day by posting her wedding pictures on Instagram. But the event is still estimated to have earnt the couple around $21 million. While they didn't physically sell the rights to the photos, E! did get the images first and put them out on their site around 30 minutes before Kim posted them herself. This meant every news outlet, publisher and broadcaster had access to the images and they were plastered all over the media for weeks and no doubt helped the image become the most liked Instagram image of all time, with over 2 million likes in 24 hours.
(KimKardashian/Instagram)
Social media queen With 25.8 million Twitter followers and 22.4 million on Instagram, Kim is a powerhouse in social media earnings. She can command around $25,000 per product tweet, with just one mention from the star giving a brand huge publicity. She also uses the page to promote her own products as well as the high end fashion brands, who have started flocking to Kim and her sister Kendall. Lets not forget Kim and Kanye's wedding picture became the most liked on Instagram in history.
(KimKardashian/Instagram)
2015 will be all about the App factor In July Kim launched her very first app 'Kim Kardashian: Hollywood', which became a hit within weeks. While some might have scoffed at the idea of millions playing a game based on Kim's life, Bloomberg predicted it could make an estimated $200 million by the end of the year. According to TMZ Kim cut a deal to pick up 45% of the net profits and with costs of $10 million to develop, they estimate she could earn $85 million from the game alone, meaning her earnings for 2014-2015 could see her even passing the net worth of hubbie Kanye.
