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Jimmy Donaldson (born May 7, 1998), better known by his online alias MrBeast, is an American YouTuber, Internet personality, businessman, and philanthropist.[6] He has been credited with pioneering a genre of YouTube videos that centers on expensive stunts.[7]
Donaldson began posting videos to YouTube in early 2012 at the age of 13,[8] under the handle "MrBeast6000"; his early content ranged from Let's Plays to "videos estimating the wealth of other YouTubers."[9] He went viral in 2017 after his "counting to 100,000" video earned tens of thousands of views in just a few days, and he has become increasingly popular ever since, with most of his videos gaining tens of millions of views.[9] Over time, his style of content diversified to include challenge and donation videos that reward thousands of dollars, videos with arduous tasks or survival challenges, and original vlogs.[10] Once his channel took off, Donaldson hired several of his childhood friends to help him run the growing brand. As of 2020, the MrBeast team was made up of 30 people.[11]
Donaldson's main YouTube channel, which had more than 90 million subscribers in February 2022,[12][13][14] is called "MrBeast".[A] He also runs several other YouTube channels, including Beast Reacts, MrBeast Gaming, MrBeast Shorts, and a philanthropy channel. [15][16] He was also one of the 10 highest-paid YouTubers of 2020.[17] Donaldson is also the founder of MrBeast Burger and Feastables, and a co-creator of Team Trees, a fundraiser for the Arbor Day Foundation that has raised over $23 million,[18][19] and Team Seas, a fundraiser for Ocean Conservancy and The Ocean Cleanup that has raised over $30 million.
In March 2019, Donaldson organized and filmed a real-life battle royale competition in Los Angeles with a prize of $200,000 (2 games were played, making game earnings of $100,000 for each game) in collaboration with Apex Legends.[33] The event and prize pool was sponsored by Apex Legends publisher Electronic Arts.
Donaldson was accused of using counterfeit money in his video titled "I Opened A FREE BANK", published on November 23, 2019.[35] He later explained that he used fake money to mitigate the potential safety and security risks caused by a rush of people clamoring to get the free money, and claimed that he exchanged the counterfeit bills for a real check for everyone afterwards.
In April 2020, Donaldson created a rock, paper, scissors competition stream that featured 32 influencers and a grand prize of $250,000, which at the time became YouTube's most-watched live Original event with 662,000 concurrent viewers.[36] The event was ultimately won by Nadeshot.[37] In October 2020, Donaldson hosted another influencer tournament featuring 24 competitors with a grand prize of $300,000. The tournament was ultimately won by the D'Amelio family, which caused controversy due to claims that they cheated.
Profitability (2021–present)
On January 1, 2021, Donaldson released the video "Youtube [sic] Rewind 2020, Thank God It's Over". He previously announced in November 2020 that he would be making a Rewind days after YouTube announced that they would not be making one. In Donaldson's video, he explains that he had always believed that YouTubers "should get more say in Rewind," and with this in mind, he decided to call "hundreds of YouTubers." At the end of the video, Donaldson gives a shoutout to PewDiePie, citing him and his 2018 Rewind as the inspiration for Donaldson's Rewind.
In February 2021, Donaldson made a guest appearance on the Clubhouse app, causing it to crash.[40] A month later, Donaldson signed a deal with Jellysmack which allows the company to exclusively manage distribution of his video content on Snapchat and Facebook.
In November 2021, Donaldson uploaded a recreation of the survival drama streaming television series Squid Game in real life, in which 456 people competed for a $456,000 cash prize, without the violence in the show.[43] The video has more than 229 million views as of March 15, 2022,[44] making it Donaldson’s most viewed YouTube video and also making it one of the most-watched YouTube videos of 2021.[45]
In December 2021, Donaldson created a third influencer tournament featuring 15 competitors with a grand prize of $1,000,000.[B][46][47][48] The tournament took place in person at the SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, and the challenge consisted of two rounds. The first round of the tournament featured 10 different challenges between 15 competitors, and the second round featured 10 winners from the first round competing in a hide-and-seek competition. The tournament was ultimately won by Zach King.[49][50][better source needed]
In January 2022, Forbes ranked MrBeast as YouTube's highest earning creator, earning an estimated $54 million in 2021. Forbes also stated that his income in 2021 would have placed him 40th in the 2020 Forbes Celebrity 100, earning as much money as Vin Diesel and Lewis Hamilton did in 2020.[51][52] [m1UTsspdPQk] |