From Kathy Ireland to Jessica Simpson, countless news reports about celebrity licensing empires are usually devoid of financial breakdowns. In the case of Jessica Simpson, multiple news reports over the last few years have noted how much in sales Simpson’s empire has produced annually. The news reports, however, usually lack any details about actual earnings by the empire and details about Simpson’s own net worth. The same is true today about a Kathy Ireland news report.

Forbes this week claims that Kathy Ireland Worldwide, Ireland’s licensing company, sold “$2 billion worth of licensed products at retail.” The unusual news statement referenced how much in product value was sold. The number “$2 billion” is not how much in sales the company generated, and certainly not how many in earnings the company derived the last year.

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So what is Kathy Ireland’s net worth? Celebrity Net Worth.com claims that Ireland is worth $350 million. Neither news report indicates how much Ireland makes from her company, nor what are the annual net earnings of her privately held company.

In 2010, similar confusion grew about Jessica Simpson. A report then claimed her company generated nearly $1 billion in annual sales.

An early 2010 Forbes report claimed Simpson’s shoes and accessories earn $500 million in sales, annually. That was compared to Sean Diddy Combs’ $500 million and Jay-Z’s $700 million annual numbers at the time. But in fall 2010, New York news claimed Simpson’s fashion empire (not her personally) will gross $750 million in sales for that year alone. But with her empire’s 2010 expected annual sales approaching $750 million, Simpson personally is expected to make in excess of $100 million each year alone.