Bethenny Frankel's Skinnygirl Business Was Not Sold For $120 Million

CORRECTION: Our reporter misread the $8.1 million figure in the financial documents. As Forbes points out, the number refers to the amount of Skinnygirl attributed to goodwill, not the total purchase price. We regret the error.

PREVIOUSLY:

Bethenny Frankel, who turned her career on reality TV into a business empire, might not be as successful as she'd like us to believe. Friends of the star said she earned a whopping $120 million after she sold her Skinnygirl franchise; however, newly released financial statements from the company tell a very different story.

A U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission quarterly report form clearly shows that the Fortune Brands, Inc. acquisition of the Skinnygirl ready-to-drink cocktail business was for $8.1 million.

"In March 2011, we acquired the Skinnygirl ready-to-drink cocktail business," the company's website states. "The acquisition included inventory and identifiable intangible assets. In addition to goodwill, we recorded contingent consideration, which is based on the achievement of certain sales targets. In future periods, the Company may be required to record contingent consideration in an amount not in excess of approximately $25 million. Any change in the Company’s estimated liabilities for contingent consideration will impact operating income in future periods."

So even if the cocktail beats all of the high targets, Bethenny still won't earn anywhere near $120 million -- the amount that, so far, has been accepted as fact. It should be noted that although Bethenny has never confirmed the number, she has also never denied it.

But don't feel sorry for the reality star. Bethenny has created an umbrella of problem-solving products and endorsements under her name including workout DVDs, books, clothes and weight-loss supplements in addition to her Skinnygirl cocktails, which have made her a very successful person -- just not a $120 million woman.

Bethenny didn’t respond to emails for comment and Beam brand spokesperson Paula Erickson told me, "As a matter of company policy, we do not disclose the financial details of our transactions."

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Comments

[Lindox]

04:23 PM on 10/16/2011

So are you taking comments now? why did you hide behind your editor's apology instead of manning up and admitting that you made a fool of yourself. Bethenny has more money now that you will ever make in your whole life. I know it hurts you that she has refused so many times to give you an interview but you don;t have to be a hater.
What about you "investigating" Jill Zarin's claims that she has already made millions by selling her girdles but is now selling the overstock in Zarin Fabrics? If she is not careful they are going to end up in the dollar store bin next to her book, LOL

[anniee214]

08:54 AM on 10/16/2011

I'd like an apology from Rob. He misread the reports--let him apologize. Like that would ever happen.

[AngusC]

01:54 PM on 10/15/2011

For those of you that have never taken a business class in life and have no concept of how business works, I am going to show you very simply how Bethenny Frankel is a fr@ud.

Her drink sold 100,000 cases last year @ $15 a bottle so roughly about $18 million in sales at a retail level.

Diddy owns 50% of Ciroc Vodka which sold 685,000 cases last year @ $30 a bottle for about almost $250 million in sales last year at the retail level and he has had this ownership for a while now.
His net worth before he even got into Ciroc was about $400 million.

If you are like the unintelligent people on here that believe that a company doing $18 million in retail sales a year could sell for $120 million, then you have to believe that Diddy's stake in Ciroc is worth at least $1.5 billion. Add in his prior net worth and other huge amounts of money he is still making and then his total net worth would far exceed $2 billion. We all know it is not, it is not even half a billion, so do the math....

[Haight]

03:14 PM on 10/15/2011

Forbes has comfirmed the truth, and you are wrong. If you are not CEO of the company who bought the product then you can't know what the company was willing to gamble. You can give your opinion all day but the public records are facts.

[vsorren606]

08:14 PM on 10/29/2011

I agree with you. People are stupid. That is why they need the govt. to control their lives and pay them to live. Yes.,I am the 1% and worked all my life to get there.

[Haight]

12:41 AM on 10/15/2011

Still waiting for the apology Rob, come on man up and admit you were wrong. Your bosses printing a correction is one thing, but we want to hear you admit for once that you were wrong.

[anniee214]

08:42 AM on 10/16/2011

Hey Haight--Rob should apologize for being wrong AGAIN! :)

[jared92480]

02:17 PM on 10/14/2011

This all reeks of a certain someone with a name that rhymes with zill barin...it's so obvious that most of these posts are written by her or her family/friends/minions. How can I tell? It's all in the writing style, which we've come to know already because we've seen it before. Furthermore, only someone with a major axe to grind would put so much effort into attempting to defame Bethany, and have a prepared list of all the “proof” ready to go, like prosecutors in a major trial. Plus the self-righteous indignation and mock outrage (”how DARE she!”) is classic Jill, like when she does the exact same thing on the reunion shows. Most fans like Bethany, and even the ones that don't would never be so full of vitriol and outrage towards her...no one cares enough. Except Jill. And whoever Jill pressures in to make a big fuss over things like this on blogs and gives them all the ammunition she gives them to use when they chime in. Nice try, but sorry, I see what's really going on here and I think the majority of people do as well.

[Haight]

12:33 AM on 10/15/2011

Rob is one of her little lapdogs that has been attacking Bethenney ever since the falling out. He has no credibility and should not be reporting for HuuPo.

[Lindox]

10:43 AM on 10/14/2011

Rob, Rob, Rob how embarrasing that your boss had to post an apology on your behalf and correct your goof mistake. See what happens when you trust your "sources" (ahem.... Zarin) instead of doing a proffesional job? Now Forbes is standing up and saying that you don't know how to read a financial statement, but we all knew that already, and they are still having Bethenny as the third women with most income. By analyzing the records, they can come up with 64 million in just one year and that doesn't include stock up options that I am sure Bethenny was smart enough to get, Bethenny was involved in heavy negotiation and had a team of lawyers looking at every aspect of this sale so you know that she must have gotten a hefty amount on stock option; that probably will put her around the initial figure that Forbes estimated the deal was worth: 100M , maybe not that but around 85-90. Bethenny owes you no explanation of her finances and she never said how much it was but she did say that was a significative amount of money.
If I were you I would be more worried about your own professional live, you are coming out like quite lazy and unproffesional, do your job Rob. Had you taken the reports to a real specialist, you would had saved yourself the embarrasment of a "correction", LOL

[AngusC]

06:29 AM on 10/14/2011

I called this when the story first came out.
There was no way based on the sales that her product had that she could have gotten paid what she did. If that was so, then based on the sales of Ciroc vodka that Diddy owns a huge share of, he would be a billionaire.

She is a fr@ud. The Kardashians making $65 million last year is a l.i.e. also. So is it also when they claim these celebs get six figures to attend a club event. If you know numbers then you know how to spot fr@ud right away.

She had no money so investors would have had to back her on this company, so after them getting the lion's share of the money and the attorneys and other people that got fees, she maybe got a million to two million dollars max on this deal.

Just another grifter.

[Haight]

12:38 AM on 10/15/2011

And yet you were wrong, as the correction had already made clear before you posted your vitrol. Perhaps actually reading the story next time would be a good idea. Also taking nothing Rob Shuter says as the truth would be wise.

[AngusC]

01:42 PM on 10/15/2011

Where was I wrong?
I do this for a living.
Her product is selling at a retail level of $18 million a year.
There is no planet on this earth that a non-publicly traded company doing about $14 million a year in gross sales would ever sell for 10 times that. The accepted sale amount is normally half, and if someone was really not that smart they might give you one years worth of sales.

Feel free to try to disprove me buddy.

[Jude Rivera]

08:59 AM on 10/15/2011

How is that reading comprehension working for you, AngusC?

[AngusC]

01:39 PM on 10/15/2011

I buy and sell businesses for a living, especially liquor.
There is no way based on the sales of her product that she could ever sell her company for what she claimed she did.

Perhaps you should get an education and a job in the real world.

[Haight]

03:27 AM on 10/14/2011

So you got 100% absolutely, completely, utterly and totally WRONG and you didn’t even have the gumption to leave comments open in the article? Where is the apology Rob? You listened to your little backhanded gossips again and now you have egg all over your face, so man up and leave the comments open. HP you can do better than this for writers, try any night school class anywhere.

[oakspondman]

07:56 PM on 10/13/2011

I really do not care if its 8 or 210 million. Whatever it is, its a lot more than what I have, and probably most of the commenter's here.

[ldsrapha]

07:09 PM on 10/13/2011

There is a reason, why the average "Rob" should not be allowed to write an article on a topic that he knows absolutely nothing about. Let's go to a legitimate source that has some factual-based arguments and understands the WHOLE picture. LOL!! I don't think Forbes is going to lightly just believe sources and name someone #3 earner. LOL! C'mon people - THINK

http://www.forbes.com/sites/meghancasserly/2011/10/13/bethenny-frankels-skinnygirl-deal-the-numbers-still-hold-up/

[Haight]

03:29 AM on 10/14/2011

He is an expert on trying to make Bethenney look bad, and he falls flat on his face again and again.

[Bessi]

11:20 PM on 10/12/2011

The allocation on a Total Deal to the assets is just one part of it, and a company would allocate as little of the Total Deal to that as they can, since that has to be capitalized. The rest of the Total Deal would be the contract with Bethenny herself, which is the compensation part of the Total Deal, which is over a few years and is an expense of the company as it is paid. So this is basically a non-story.

[AlyssaB987]

09:06 AM on 10/13/2011

The assets (including goodwill) is the MOST VALUABLE part of the deal which was valued at $8.1 million according to the documents. It's likely that Bethenny is receiving an annual compensation as a spokesperson but there is no way that this compensation exceeds say, $500,000 (even this seems high since most of the goodwill was already incorporated in the price and). So, even assuming she gets $1 M as a spokesperson in the form of a salary -- how does this translate to the $55 million or whatever quoted by Forbes. Something doesn't jive.

[AlyssaB987]

09:11 AM on 10/13/2011

Also, Bessi, what you are suggesting is that the company somehow misled investors by mischaracterizing as much as $110 million in its disclosure. I doubt that happened.

[d84jennings]

11:01 PM on 10/12/2011

Who cares.. Point is she made a killing and is still making loads money, so who really cares.. She's taking it to the bank, has become a household name, and is in every shelf accrossed the country. 8mil is still a big chunk of money.

[colbert for president]

09:36 AM on 10/13/2011

8 million split with partner and taxes paid from your half of that.

[Haight]

03:35 AM on 10/14/2011

Except that Forbes lists 32 million for acquisitions, plus the goodwill, plus sponsorship, plus stock.

[judge jake]

01:29 PM on 10/13/2011

not a big chunk with obama in office

[Kayla Diane23]

10:59 PM on 10/12/2011

If you read the article is clearly says her FRIENDS reported she earned $120 million. She never came out and said how much she made. Anytime she was asked she said she wouldn't say and never denied or agreed with that $120 million number. She only said she sold it for a good amount and was satisfied with it. How is this con artist material?? She is doing what any PR person would tell a client to do in that situation.

[colbert for president]

09:37 AM on 10/13/2011

she allowed herself to be named number 3 on forbes top earning women list behind oprah and lady gaga (she knew there was no way that was true because she knew how much she actually earned from the sale). that is completely dishonest and misleading. frame it however you wish but forbes has a problem with it and they are in the news today saying so. a lie by omission is STILL A LIE.

[Haight]

03:37 AM on 10/14/2011

And Forbes says that their estimate was pretty accurate, so I guess she didn't allow herself to be put on the list falsely.

[jayquintana]

03:20 PM on 10/12/2011

Reminds me of Lenny Dykstra's claim that he sold his three Southern California car washes for $50 million.

[krussrn]

01:53 PM on 10/12/2011

I started with a response to several posts, then deleted all of it when I realized how long it was. Just to sum it all up: Once someone starts down that trail of deceptions, half-truths, and outright lies, it's very difficult to reign it in. Narcissism is an all-encompassing demon that cannot be shaken by those who chose to feed it. We've always taught our children that deception and half-truth is the same as a lie, in fact it's worse!

Frankel is just another con-artist who will do whatever it takes to make a buck - including selling out her own mother. She's either whining, complaining, or blaming . . . whatever she needs to do to reflect all responsibility off herself. Here's a major wake-up call for her-highness Bethenny Frankel: Be careful with those "stones" she keeps throwing at anyone she perceives as getting in her way. Her children will have their share of neuroses; she can only pray that they don't hold her accountable using the same standards she's used toward her own mother (as well anyone else who she perceives as getting in her way "to the top").

[Societywow]

04:22 PM on 10/12/2011

Very well stated, Krussm, you are so right. Bethenney is so obvious and should get off the DRUGS and beg her mom for forgiveness and everyone else that she has stepped on.

[oneeasyrider]

03:45 AM on 10/13/2011

Sorry friend, I don't share your opinion. I've always perceived Bethenny Frankel to be smart, funny and personable. Is she perfect? No. Is she always correct? No.

At the same time, know I would enjoy being around her -- love the cutting wit.

[colbert for president]

09:39 AM on 10/13/2011

the news reports are that all the station owners looking at the pilot for her new talk show did not like her "cutting wit". they found her abrasive and now she has a personality coach. the reason talk shows succeed is that the host knows how to actually be quiet and LISTEN to their guests. bethenny talks over people constantly. this is not quirky and charming. it is rude and will not translate to talk show success.

[Candace8383]

10:10 PM on 10/13/2011

hey One do you think this is Kelly or Jill? lol I enjoy her too and her show is the only one i watch anymore She went through hell admits her faults and tries sounds human to me