Who Is MrBeast?
MrBeast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, operates the most popular YouTube channel. His YouTube channel has reached more than 394 million people since he started it at age 13 in 2012. In addition to filming elaborate stunts, contests, and giveaways, MrBeast has invested in other ventures, such as the MrBeast Burger chain and the Feastables snack brand. Beast Games, his reality competition show, has been renewed for two more seasons.
Here are some quick facts
NAME IN FULL: James Stephen Donaldson
Date of birth: May 7, 1998
The birthplace was Wichita, Kansas
ASTROPHYSICAL SIGN: Taurus
Early Life and Family
In Wichita, Kansas, MrBeast was born James Stephen Donaldson on May 7, 1998. His mother, Susan Parisher, is a U.S. military veteran. Jimmy Donaldson has an older brother, CJ, and a younger sister whose identity he hasn’t revealed.
In the years following Donaldson’s birth, Parisher served as a military prison warden near Mannheim, Germany, before being stationed at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Rolling Stone reported that she often worked 12-hour days while on active duty, so au pairs cared primarily for Jimmy and his siblings. When he was 7 years old, his family moved to three different cities.
In 2007, Donaldson’s parents divorced, and he no longer talks to his father. Parisher has claimed that she experienced physical, sexual, and emotional abuse throughout her marriage, although he hasn’t revealed his father’s identity. After an “almost fatal fight,” she finally decided to leave with her children, according to Rachael K. Adams of The Love Offering Podcast.
Parisher manages the company’s expenditures and contracts as chief compliance officer at MrBeast LLC. Her son’s banking and personal affairs are also handled by her.
Donaldson was raised primarily in Greenville, North Carolina, despite moving early in his life. In April 2022, he told Rolling Stone that he does not have any vivid memories of his childhood. In his youth and into high school, Donaldson played baseball and basketball, but gave up sports after being diagnosed with Crohn’s disease at 15 years old. After I got Crohn’s, I lost like 50 pounds because I played baseball nonstop. On The Joe Rogan Experience podcast in 2022, he said, “F- that.”. His autoimmune disease causes inflammation in his digestive tract, causing fatigue and dietary restrictions.
In 2016, Donaldson graduated from Greenville Christian Academy and enrolled at East Carolina University, but dropped out after only two weeks. He was kicked out of the house by his disapproving mother. Making YouTube videos was now Donaldson’s primary passion.
YouTube Channel and Videos
Rolling Stone reports that Donaldson began posting videos to the internet at the age of 11. When he turned 13, he started his own YouTube channel, calling himself “MrBeast6000” instead of the short “Mr.” The name “Beast” was already taken. Eventually, MrBeast evolved into its current form.
Initially, the teenager posted videos of himself playing Minecraft, Call of Duty, and other games, as well as clips with commentary about other YouTubers. In January 2017, he uploaded a video of himself counting to 100,000 for nearly 24 hours (in reality, it took him about 40 hours). After uploading the video, the 19-year-old reached more than 1 million subscribers.
Since finding his formula for virality, MrBeast has continued to make videos featuring unusual stunts or large acts of philanthropy. He has given $10,000 to a homeless person and tipped restaurant workers with gold bars and luxury items. MrBeast launched a spinoff channel in September 2020 called Beast Philanthropy, which claims to give all of its advertising revenue, merchandise, and sponsorship earnings to charity.
After earning at least six figures per month from his primary channel, MrBeast continued to make elaborate videos featuring his friends, the Beast Gang. He recreated the hit Netflix series Squid Game in November 2021 and offered 456 contestants the chance to win a $456,000 grand prize. There was no harm done to any of the eliminated contestants, unlike on the show.
Additionally, the YouTuber spent 50 hours buried alive in a coffin equipped with food, water, air conditioning, and a walkie-talkie to communicate with his co-hosts. Over 331 million people have viewed the video in one day, setting a YouTube record.
MrBeast’s YouTube channel had the most subscribers by June 2024. By May 2025, he had attracted around 394 million subscribers and shared eight new videos, bringing his total to 870. In February 2024, he estimated his videos are viewed about 30 billion times around the world with more than 500 million followers across social media.
Business Ventures: MrBeast Burger and Chocolate Bars
A variety of food-related business projects have been developed by MrBeast as a result of the channel’s financial success and growth. Among them are MrBeast Burger, Feastables, and Lunchly.
In December 2020, he founded MrBeast Burger, a delivery-only food chain. In its first seven months, MrBeast Burger generated more than $100 million in revenue, according to Bon Appétit. In September 2022, the brand’s first restaurant will open at the American Dream shopping mall in New Jersey.
The MrBeast Bar, a gluten-free chocolate bar, was launched by Feastables in January 2022. “No other brand creates quality snacks that focus on fun at a mass scale, and I’m excited for everyone to try it out,” MrBeast said. Retail stores such as Wal-Mart, Target, and Kroger now sell the bars in eight flavors.
In October 2024, MrBeast teamed up with Logan Paul to create Lunchly, a packaged lunch for children that includes a MrBeast Bar and Paul’s Prime Hydration sports drink. Despite being marketed as a healthier alternative to other lunch brands, some consumers found mold in the Lunchly kits before their expiration dates.
Beast Games and Lawsuit
In addition to food and YouTube, MrBeast offers free ad-supported TV, or FAST. MrBeast is a Roku Channel channel that plays YouTube videos and encourages viewers to “join Jimmy and friends for extreme stunts, jaw-dropping challenges, entertaining esports, and philanthropic projects.”
By 2024, he will have an even greater opportunity to increase his TV presence. MrBeast hosted and executive produced Beast Games for Amazon Prime Video. By the end of the season, MrBeast had doubled the final prize and given millions more throughout the competition, pitting 1,000 contestants against one another for $5 million. The unscripted series Beast Games became Prime Video’s most-viewed unscripted series after it premiered in December. However, the host told The Diary of a CEO podcast that the show cost him “tens of millions of dollars” in the process. Prizes amount more than $20 million, and MrBeast has said the total cost of the show was more than $100 million.
In addition to financial losses, MrBeast found himself in legal turmoil due to the competition. Unnamed contestants sued MrBeast and Amazon in Los Angeles Superior Court in September 2024; they alleged they had experienced “chronic mistreatment” on set, including sexual harassment. Physical challenges resulted in significant injuries and several hospitalizations, according to The New York Times. MrBeast has said the claims were “blown out of proportion.” No updates about the lawsuit have been made public.
Amazon announced in May 2025 that Beast Games will be renewed for two more seasons.
How Much Money Does MrBeast Have?
According to MrBeast’s interview with Time in February 2024, he earns between $600 million and $700 million each year. His revenue is mainly derived from ad revenue and sponsorship deals for his videos, as well as merchandise sales. He claims, however, that most of his earnings have been reinvested into more videos and projects. I have invested everything, perhaps to the point of stupidity, just believing that we would succeed. “It worked out,” he said.
His sizable bank account came in handy during the making of Beast Games. MrBeast told The Diary of a CEO podcast the Amazon Prime Video reality competition cost more than $100 million, some of which he owed. “It was not a good financial decision to make Beast Games,” the show host said. “I lost money. I would have more money if I didn’t film it.”
Around 2022, MrBeast moved into a gated community in Greenville, North Carolina, due to safety concerns. According to the YouTuber, he now lives primarily inside a room at the MrBeast studio complex in order to avoid commuting. He also has his own bodyguard that accompanies him in public.
Controversies
Despite MrBeast’s massive popularity, his content has also drawn criticism. As a teenager, MrBeast used anti-gay slurs on social media and joked about homosexuality in his videos, according to The Atlantic. He later explained that his staunchly religious upbringing led him to say he would just ignore the controversy at the time. The Bible Belt literally runs through this area. As a child, I had it in my head every day: “Gay people are the reason God is going to burn the earth,” he told Rolling Stone in 2022. As I grew up, I realized that this wasn’t normal. I grew up in a weird place.”
MrBeast and his team built 100 wells across Africa in a video they released in November 2023. Approximately 500,000 people in Cameroon, Kenya, Somalia, Uganda, and Zimbabwe would benefit from the project. The YouTuber’s philanthropic act was praised by some, but it was seen as one of many exploiting vulnerable populations to generate attention and revenue for his channel. It’s already clear to me that I’m gonna get canceled because of my video helping people. My channel will always be used to help others and to encourage my audience to follow suit,” he wrote on X.
Several months later, in July 2024, one of the MrBeast channel’s co-hosts, Ava Kris Tyson, was accused of grooming a minor via online messages a few years before. As a transgender woman, Tyson came out in 2023 and denied the claims. MrBeast announced he had removed her from the channel and hired a third party to investigate. Tyson apologized for any past behavior or comments that hurt or offended anyone. In November 2024, MrBeast shared results of the inquiry, which determined sexual misconduct allegations “between Company employees and minors” were “without basis.”