Millions in Revenue, Massive Influence, Yet 'Not Rich'; A Look At YouTube Star MrBeast's Complex Empire

Famous YouTuber Jimmy Donaldson, better known as MrBeast, recently spoke about his life, channel and businesses on the TIME100 Leadership Series. MrBeast revealed that he rakes in hundreds of millions of dollars from his YouTube channel and Feastables food brand with his revenue ranging between $600 million and $700 million per year. Despite this, he says he’s not rich.

MrBeast’s Popularity

MrBeast has been on YouTube for 12 years. He is the most subscribed individual on the platform. His main YouTube channel has 240 million subscribers, and his videos regularly get well over 100 million views. In 2023 alone, MrBeast gained 99 million new YouTube subscribers, per CNBC, and his popularity spans across other social media.

He has about 100 million followers on TikTok, 50 million on Instagram and over 425 million followers/subscribers in total. It’s safe to say that MrBeast knows how to make content. “I can make almost anything go viral,” he said in the TIME interview.

Going beyond content creation, MrBeast in 2022 launched a line of snacks called Feastables. The brand was in multiple countries by 2023 and generated about $500 million in annual revenue.

He started a food-delivery service, MrBeast Burger, in December 2020, which reportedly grew to 1,700 virtual locations and raked in $100 million in total revenue by August 2022 before getting into a legal battle. Donaldson reportedly has a toy deal and is on the verge of signing a nine-figure deal with Amazon as well.

Despite All MrBeast is Not Rich: Here’s Why

In the interview, Donaldson revealed that his ventures rake in about $600 million to $700 million a year. However, he does not claims to not be rich. “I mean, not right now,” he clarified. Donaldson says that whatever money he makes is invested right back in the business. He said that each of his videos make a couple million in ad revenue and another couple million in band deals.

He spends a lot on every video, sometimes shooting as much as 12,000 hours of footage for a 15-minute clip, TIME reported. “I’ve reinvested everything to the point of—you could claim—stupidity, just believing that we would succeed. And it’s worked out,” Donaldson said in the interview.

The reinvestment is evident in his experiments such as buying a grocery store and paying a contestant $10,000 each day he is able to live in it. “I’m not naive; maybe one day. But right now, whatever we make, we reinvest,” he added.

Further, MrBeast claimed that he doesn’t have access to the money that is left. He said while he does have a CFO, his mother is the one who has access to the master bank account. His mother’s office is located on the second floor of his 63,000-sq.-ft. studio on the outskirts of Greenville, N.C.

MrBeast’s Lifestyle

Despite claiming that he is not rich, he lives like a rich person. The globally famous creator has a personal chef and a trainer, according to Time, and he lives in a 3,000 square-foot-home that he reportedly bought for about $320,000 in 2018, according to the New York Post. MrBeast has plans to continue growing his empire, and he admitted that he may eventually reap the financial rewards.