There's no disputing that MrBeast makes a lot of money.
The YouTuber - real name Jimmy Donaldson - rakes in hundreds of millions of dollars from his YouTube channel and Feastables food brand. But despite bringing in revenue between $600 million and $700 million each year, Donaldson says he's not rich.
His massive channel has 239 million subscribers, and his videos regularly get well over 100 million views.
"Each video does a couple million in ad revenue, a couple million in brand deals," he told Time Magazine this week, which noted that brands pay between $2.5 million to $3 million for a shout-out in a video.
But that money doesn't go into his bank account. And even if it did, the 25-year-old said he doesn't have access to it.
"I don't have access to any of my bank accounts," he said. "I have a CFO and everything, but [my mom is] the one who has access to the master bank account."
Instead, the income goes back into growing his brand and audience.
"I've reinvested everything to the point of-you could claim-stupidity, just believing that we would succeed," he said. "And it's worked out."
Part of the investment involves sparing no expense on his massive, popular stunts such as buying a grocery store and paying a contestant $10,000 each day he is able to live in it. A shoot that captures 12,000 hours of footage may end up as a video that is just 15 minutes long, Time reports.
Of course, Donaldson isn't exactly scraping by. The creator has a personal chef and a trainer, according to Time, and he lives in a 3,000 square-foot-home that he purchased for $320,000 in 2018, according to the New York Post.
With plans to continue growing his empire, Donaldson admits that he may eventually reap the financial rewards.
"I'm not naïve; maybe one day," he said of being rich. "But right now, whatever we make, we reinvest."
Comments