MrBeast Earns Tens of Millions per Year, Says Money “Doesn’t Matter” to Him

If you saw the YouTube video of him recreating the candy-coated wonderland from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory — a video that has racked up more than 56 million views already — you might be wondering how much MrBeast makes to afford such lavish stunts.

As you might expect, Jimmy Donaldson has earnings in the millions — the tens of millions, even. In January, Forbes named Donaldson the highest-paid YouTube star of 2021, with his profits surpassing those of Jake Paul, Markiplier, Unspeakable, and other famous content creators.

As Forbes reported, Donaldson earned $54 million in 2021. Not only did that total make him the highest-paid YouTube star of the year, but it made him the highest-paid YouTube star ever, according to the magazine. The money came from ad revenue and from business ventures like MrBeast Burger, in which he partnered on branded meals with 1,600 restaurants in the U.S. and split the profits with those restaurants. According to Celebrity Net Worth, Donaldson has a net worth of $25 million.

Donaldson’s YouTube dominance doesn’t come easily, though. He told fellow YouTuber Coffeezilla last year that it costs him $500,000–$1 million to create a video. A Rolling Stone cover story published this April reported that only a few of Donaldson’s videos are profitable, with his gaming and reaction videos funding the stunts on his main YouTube channel.

“I could be doing cheaper videos,” he told the magazine. “But I just don’t want to. I want to push the boundaries to go bigger, bigger.”

In that same Rolling Stone interview, Donaldson claimed he doesn’t “give a f--k about money” and intends to donate all of the fortune during his lifetime. (One of his projects is Beast Philanthropy, which “exists to leverage the power of social media platforms and raise funds to alleviate hunger, homelessness, and unemployment.”)

“I don’t want to live my life chasing the next shiny object to the next shiny object,” the YouTube star added. “It’s a sad, miserable way to go about life.”

Donaldson also claimed that money “doesn’t matter” to him but acknowledged its importance to other people. “And that’s what allows us to get views so I make more money and do bigger stuff,” he explained.

Despite Donaldson’s avowed apathy toward money and “shiny objects,” Rolling Stone mentioned that he drives a Tesla Model X and owns a $50,000 refrigerator that allows a private chef to deliver meals without being seen.

Donaldson’s best friend Chris Tyson alluded to the YouTuber being obsessed with money when commenting on Donaldson’s dating life. “I think that’s what he’s going to be looking for next: somebody who can match his obsession with business and money and all that kind of stuff,” Tyson told Rolling Stone.