Jimmy Donaldson, better known as MrBeast, is currently sitting at 139 million YouTube subscribers. Many of his videos cost incredible amounts of money — but how can he afford it all? How much money does MrBeast make and what is his net worth, allowing him these splurges?
Very few YouTubers can simply give away $100,000 to strangers on a regular basis; or for a 24-year-old to recreate Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory only to give it away. But, this is exactly the sort of life that MrBeast leads.
Whether it’s giving away a $100,000 diamond, making teams compete for $500,000, or having people battle it out in a Squid Game IRL recreation for $460,000, he has made a name for himself by performing increasingly crazy acts of kindness. This comes at a severe personal cost though, foregoing millions of dollars to become one of the most well-known faces online.
With this in mind, what is MrBeast’s net worth and how does he even have any money left over to feed himself? He has a few revenue streams that all help him to not only sustain himself but also his unwavering growth on the internet, and here we take a look at each of them.
Source: Instagram @MrBeast
What is MrBeast’s net worth?
MrBeast is an American YouTube star, philanthropist and entrepreneur. Mr Beast has a current estimated net worth of $100 million, per Celebrtiy Net Worth.
In January 2022, it was reported that MrBeast was the highest-earning YouTuber, with a reported net worth of $54 million in 2021.
Of course, any net worth figure must include liabilities as well as assets, and so is simply an estimation. Many have attempted to accurately pinpoint MrBeast’s net worth. One website suggests MrBeast’s net worth is approximately $25 million, as of January 2023.
Social Blade estimates that on his main channel alone, MrBeast has generated up to $40 million in yearly earnings. However, MrBeast runs countless other channels, such as MrBeast Gaming and even a Spanish version of his main channel, which has 23 million subs.
In 2020 he earned $24 million from his YouTube channel, merchandise sales and sponsorships with brands like Microsoft and Electronic Arts. MrBeast makes a minimum of $3 million per month from YouTube ads alone. Jimmy reportedly invests the majority of his video earnings back into video production. He now spends as much as $300,000 producing one video, up from $10,000 a few years ago, per Celebrity Net Worth.
For better or for worse, there’s not a definitive number we can point to when it comes to the fortune the YouTuber has amassed to date. But, it’s safe to assume he’s a multi-millionaire.
How does MrBeast make money?
Viral content
MrBeast has to earn a lot of money to sustain his videos, and his main channel is a loss leader in order to attract new viewers — it’s effectively a marketing spend. He’s set up other revenue streams to allow for this to happen, with one ultimate goal in mind that we’ll get into later in the article.
As with any YouTuber that is part of the platform’s partner program, the most blatant source of income for MrBeast is through AdSense. Display, overlay, and video advertisements are displayed on his content and he gets a cut. This is determined by the number of views a video garners and the CPM rate, the latter of which is where YouTube determines how much money he receives per thousand views. He earns a percentage of the income Google’s video platform makes from these advertisements.
Another common method of earning money from YouTube videos are brand deals. Companies big and small flock to relevant content to advertise themselves but if they want maximum impact then MrBeast is the target, hitting at least 75 million viewers on a video. His style of content is designed to attract eyeballs and, in a climate where attention is everything, he’s the gold standard.
A genius aspect of his approach to content is that more brands want to work with him as he continues to grow, and he can charge increasing amounts for a spot in a video. Brands pay the larger figure and this allows him to make more attention-grabbing videos. It’s a circle of sustainable growth and nobody knows where the ceiling is — if it exists at all.
Source: MRBEAST
After having previously been tapped by Honey, MrBeast is now connected to e-commerce company Shopify, who he gives a shout-out to during his video. We don’t know the terms of this deal but the chances of him doing it for free, considering that he’s trying to increase his income as much as possible, are slim.
He also has a suite of supporting YouTube channels which he produces in multiple languages that were designed to generate income that allow him to support himself as his main channel loses money. The likes of MrBeast Shorts, MrBeast Gaming, Beast Reacts, MrBeast 2, and Beast Philanthropy all exist to allow his original MrBeast channel to be a loss leader that grants him the maximum amount of attention.
Other ventures
What’s a content creator without merchandise? MrBeast has bespoke lines of clothing that range from standard ‘Beast’ apparel to chocolate. He even launched a range of clothing for his MrBeast Burger venture.
Source: NIGHT MEDIA
Launching a burger chain across the United States, MrBeast gave away $100 with every order placed at the first location he opened. After starting out with 300 locations in the US, the brand then reached a whopping 1,000 stores as he expanded to Europe and the rest of North America. It proved to be a hit with MrBeast Burger hitting $100 million in revenue in July 2022. This is a milestone in the world of YouTube creators, investing in new revenue streams and will no doubt inspire others to try something new.
Sticking with his food-based creations, he then went on to launch Feastables. However, unlike MrBeast Burger, the new chocolate bar brand got off to a bitter start and resulted in him losing $1.3 million in just 10 minutes due to a celebratory giveaway. Although, it’s not clear exactly how much revenue the venture has brought in, he’s continued to donate the sweet treats on regular occasions.
Next up for MrBeast and his fans may well be an exclusive membership club. Much like with Team Liquid, Envy, and Cloud9 in esports in recent months, a membership scheme typically provides exclusive perks such as additional content, behind-the-scenes insights, and early access to merchandise.
As per MrBeast’s musings on his secondary Twitter account, he would charge $10 a month for fans to access exclusive content like a “podcast” and “occasional random videos.” 100% of the revenue he would earn from the hypothetical club would go towards his videos, furthering his mission.
Now that we’ve established that MrBeast both makes and gives away an absolute fortune, it’s interesting to try and contextualize why he’s adopted this extreme genre of content that comes with such eye-watering cost. Spoiler: it’s all for impact.
The 24-year-old is a true philanthropist and his long-term goal is to maximize his earning potential just to give it all away. According to a tweet in August 2020, he wants to open “hundreds of homeless shelters” and “food banks” as vehicles for transferring his wealth. While he’s losing a lot of money through the stunts he pulls on his main channel, he’s able to command more and more from advertisers who want to get in front of his ever-growing audience.
Just in case anybody questions his dedication to this noble cause, he has promised that he’ll die with “0 dollars in [his] bank” and is determined to forego a “materialistic life” often adopted by those with fame and fortune.
