What Is Michael Kors' Net Worth?
Michael Kors is an American fashion designer who has a net worth of $600 million. Michael Kors is the chief creative director and honorary chairman of his brand, Michael Kors.
Company Sale
In 2003, Michael sold a controlling interest in his company to investors Silas Chou and Lawrence Stroll for around $100 million. Today, he owns around 5% of his namesake company, which has a market cap of $10 billion. In 2014, Michael was a paper billionaire thanks to the soaring stock price of his now-publicly traded KORS. At the time the company was doing over $3 billion in annual revenue and around $700 million in profit. Unfortunately, over the next few years, the stock dropped over 50%, and therefore dropped Michael from the billionaire's club. Today he serves as the Honorary Chairman as well as Chief Creative Officer for Michael Kors Holdings. The company bought Jimmy Choo in 2017 for nearly $1 billion. The company bought Versace for $2.1 billion in September 2018. Upon closing the Versace deal, Michael Kors Holdings will be renamed Capri Holdings.
Early Life and Career
Michael Kors was born Karl Anderson Jr. on August 9, 1959, in Long Island, New York. Kors was exposed to the fashion apparel industry as a child due to his mother, Joan Hamburger, being a model. His mother married Bill Kors when Michael was five, and his surname was subsequently changed to Kors. She also told Michael he could change his first name as well, so he renamed himself Michael David Kors. While in junior high, he took acting classes but stopped when he decided to focus on becoming a fashion designer. Michael graduated from John F. Kennedy High School in Bellmore, New York. He started designing and selling clothes as a teen out of his parents' basement. In 1977, Kors enrolled at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City but dropped out after nine months.
Fashion Career
After dropping out of FIT, Kors took a job at Lothar's, a boutique store across the street from Bergdorf Goodman in Midtown Manhattan. He started work as a salesperson but quickly got promoted to become a designer and a visual display head for the store. The fashion director of Bergdorf's, Dawn Mello, discovered Kors and asked him to show his collection to Bergdorf Goodman's buyers.
He launched his Michael Kors women's fashion line at stores including Goodman, Bloomingdale's, Neiman Marcus, Lord & Taylor, and Saks Fifth Avenue in 1981. The company launched the label KORS as a licensee in 1990. He filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1993 but was able to claw his way back; however, he did have to close the licensing partner for his label, forcing him to pause production on his KORS line.
In 1997, Michael launched a lower-priced, ready-to-wear line for the French store Celine. He left the Celine line a few years later, and in 2002, Kors launched a menswear line. In 2004, he launched the MICHAEL Michael Kors line, joining forces with the original Michael Kors Collection label. The line included women's ready-to-wear apparel and expanded to handbags and shoes. By the end of 2016, Kors had over 770 Lifestyle stores worldwide and Collection boutiques in New York, Beverly Hills, Palm Beach, Chicago, and Southampton. In early 2019, Michael Kors Holdings Limited officially changed its name to Capri Holdings Limited. Kors, Jimmy Choo, and Versace are the three founder-led brands under Capri Holdings Limited.
Outside of designing clothes, Kors was a judge on "Project Runway" for five seasons. He announced he would not be returning in 2012 and was replaced by designer Zac Posen. Michael returned to Project Runway in 2016 briefly as a guest judge for the season 15 finale.
(Photo by JP Yim/Getty Images for Michael Kors)
Notable Celebrity Fans
Michael Kors has dressed thousands of super-famous women. Among those include Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Tiffany Haddish, Lupita Nyong'o, Kate Middleton, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Angelina Jolie, Dakota Johnson, Heidi Klum, Hillary Clinton, and many more. Michelle Obama wore a black sleeveless dress designed by Michael for her first term official portrait as First Lady of the United States. She later wore a Kors dress again at the 2015 State of the Union address. On January 21, 2013, Alicia Keys wore a Kors gown during her performance at Barack Obama's inaugural ball. When accepting her Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture, Viola Davis sported a custom Michael Kors Collection gown. Kate Hudson and Olivia Wilde both wore Kors to the 2016 Golden Globes, and Emily Blunt (nominated for her role in "Into the Woods") wore a custom-made white Kor gown to the Academy Awards in 2015. As the creative director for his brand for Celine, Michael designed many outfits for actresses to wear on-screen, including styles for Gwenyth Paltrow in "Possession" and Rene Russo in "The Thomas Crown Affair."
Ad Campaigns
Kors aims for his advertising to reflect a "jet-set lifestyle" that his fans recognize. The Kors Collection campaigns have been shot by photographers Inez and Vinoodh, as well as Mario Testino. Ads over the years have featured model Carmen Kass on a safari in Africa, relaxing on a yacht, as well as photography of Bella Hadid on various adventures around the world. Campaigns have also featured models Ugbad Abdi, Rianne Van Rompaey, and Binx Walton.
Personal Life
Michael married his long-time partner Lance Le Pere in The Hamptons on August 16, 2011. The couple met in 1990 when La Pere became an intern for Kors' company. The couple lives in a penthouse apartment in Greenwich Village, New York.
