Jake Paul

Jake Joseph Paul (born January 17, 1997) is an American professional boxer, influencer and actor. He began his career posting videos on Vine in September 2013 and had amassed 5.3 million followers and 2 billion views before the app was discontinued. He launched his YouTube channel, Jake Paul, in May 2014, and was ranked by Forbes as one of the highest-paid YouTube creators of the 2010s and 2020s.

As an actor, Paul's first role in a feature film was in the 2016 film Dance Camp. He went on to star as Dirk Mann on the Disney Channel series Bizaardvark (2016–2018) and appear in the films Airplane Mode (2019), Mainstream (2020), and A Genie's Tail (2022). He has also made guest appearances in the television series Walk the Prank (2016), The Price Is Right (2017), and Ridiculousness (2020).

Paul's boxing career began in August 2018 with a white-collar boxing match against Deji Olatunji, which he won via technical knockout. His professional boxing debut was against AnEsonGib in January 2020. He later faced and defeated former basketball player Nate Robinson and former MMA fighters Ben Askren, Tyron Woodley (twice), and Anderson Silva.

In February 2023, Paul lost to Tommy Fury via split decision in his first fight with an active professional boxer. He then built a winning streak defeating Nate Diaz, Andre August, Ryan Bourland, and Mike Perry. His November 2024 bout against Mike Tyson, which he won via unanimous decision in Texas, achieved the biggest boxing gate receipts in U.S. history outside of Las Vegas. In December 2025, Paul suffered his first stoppage loss to former two-time unified world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua. Earlier that year, Paul defeated former WBC middleweight champion Julio César Chávez Jr. by unanimous decision, which briefly earned him a top fifteen Cruiserweight ranking by the World Boxing Association.

In 2021, Paul founded Most Valuable Promotions, a boxing promotion alongside his adviser Nakisa Bidarian, and founded Anti Fund, a venture capital firm with Geoffrey Woo. The fund was recently reported to hold over $65 million in investments and assets.

Early life

Paul was born on January 17, 1997, in Cleveland, Ohio, and raised in Westlake, Ohio, with his older brother Logan, who is also a YouTuber and internet personality. They started filming themselves when Jake was ten. Their parents are Pamela Ann Stepnick (née Meredith) and realtor Gregory Allan Paul. He was raised in a church-going, Christian household.

Entertainment career

2013–2016: Vine, YouTube, and Bizaardvark

Paul began his career in September 2013 posting videos on Vine. By the time Vine was discontinued by Twitter Inc., Paul had amassed 5.3 million followers and 2 billion views on the app. Paul launched his YouTube channel on May 15, 2014. His channel became known for pranks, controversies, and his hip hop music.

After gaining acclaim on Vine and YouTube, Paul joined the cast of the Disney Channel series Bizaardvark, playing a character called "Dirk Mann" who accepted dare requests to perform. On July 22, 2017, during the middle of filming the second season of Bizaardvark, the Disney Channel announced that Paul would be leaving the series. The announcement followed a news report from KTLA about public complaints from Paul's neighbors regarding the noise generated by Paul's pranks, parties, hazards and large crowds of fans congregating in their neighborhood. Paul confirmed the news on his Twitter page, saying he would now focus more on his personal brand, YouTube channel, business ventures, and more mature acting roles. Paul later claimed in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter that he was actually fired from Bizaardvark by Disney, who wanted to remove him from the show quickly, due to the controversy created from the KTLA article. The Hollywood Report claims that "For Disney, the KTLA news segment was the final straw".

2017–2019: Music, business, and Team 10

Paul launched entertainment collective Team 10 in 2016. On January 17, 2017, his 20th birthday, it was reported that he had launched media company TeamDom with $1 million in funding to create an influencer marketing management and creative agency around teen entertainment. Investors included Danhua Capital, Horizons Alpha, Vayner Capital, Sound Ventures & A-Grade Investments and Adam Zeplain.

Paul released the single "It's Everyday Bro", featuring Team 10, on May 30, 2017. It featured vocals from members of the team at the time, consisting of Nick Crompton, Chance Sutton, Ivan and Emilio Martinez and Tessa Brooks. It drew over 70 million views in one month and became YouTube's third most disliked video. The song debuted and peaked at number 91 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Its title refers to how Paul at the time posted a video every single day. In 2017, Paul released and later deleted singles including "Ohio Fried Chicken", "Jerika", "No Competition", "That Ain't on the News" and "Litmas". The singles were deleted for various reasons, including his 2018 break-up with Erika Costell.

On November 22, 2017, Paul released a remix of "It's Everyday Bro", featuring American rapper Gucci Mane in place of Team 10, alongside the new music video for it. On April 27, 2018, he released the single and music video for "Malibu" with now-former Team 10 member Chad Tepper. On May 11, he released another single and music video for "My Teachers", featuring now-former Team 10 members Sunny Malouf and Anthony Trujillo, along with the music video. On May 24, he released two singles, "Randy Savage" and "Cartier Vision". The former song features Team 10 and hip-hop duo Jitt & Quan, featuring vocals from Team 10 members at the time, consisting of Anthony Trujillo, Sunny Malouf, Justin Roberts, Erika Costell, and Chad Tepper; it was released along with the music video. The latter song features Anthony and the duo as well; the music video was released later on September 12.

On August 15, 2018, Paul released another single titled "Champion", with a music video. The song was a diss track towards Paul's boxing opponent Deji Olatunji (ComedyShortsGamer), the younger brother of British YouTube star, internet personality, boxer, and rapper KSI. Their fight took place ten days later on August 25. Throughout the summer of 2018, Paul and Team 10 went on a tour in North America, performing their songs. Gradually, the Team 10 members split up throughout the year.

Paul's varied business ventures ultimately led to his second-place ranking in Forbes' list of highest-paid YouTubers in 2018.

On March 1, 2019, Paul released the track and music video for "I'm Single". The song focused on Paul's feelings about being single and his breakup with Erika Costell. As the social media accounts for Team 10 have been inactive since September 2019, some assumed that Team 10 had disbanded and Paul had formed a new team.

In June 2025 he featured on the Forbes list as one of the world's highest paid creators with estimated earnings in 2024 of $50m.

2019–2020: More focus on music

On December 13, 2019, Paul released another single, "These Days", alongside a music video featuring model Julia Rose. The song features Jake rapping about his past long-distance relationship with his ex-girlfriend, Alissa Violet. Less than a year later, the song was removed from all streaming services.

On July 24, 2020, Paul released the single "Fresh Outta London", which was released alongside the music video. For the video shoot, he threw a party at his home in Calabasas, California on July 11, in which he garnered national attention after being criticized by Calabasas mayor Alicia Weintraub after videos and pictures of the party surfaced online.

On September 10, Paul released another single, titled "23", alongside a music video at his house which only starred his older brother Logan and also featured clips of him and a few of his friends. The title of the song refers to his age at the time, as well as American former basketball player Michael Jordan's jersey number.

On October 15, Paul released the single "Dummy", featuring Canadian rapper TVGucci, who is signed to fellow Canadian rapper Drake's record label, OVO Sound. The lyric video was published on Paul's YouTube channel six days later, on October 21.

2021–present: Sports business, startups, and investments

In 2021, Paul partnered with serial entrepreneur Geoffrey Woo to launch a venture capital firm called Anti Fund. In August 2021, Anti Fund led investment in sports gambling firm Simplebet Inc. raising $30 million in a financing round in August 2021. In August 2022, Anti Fund invested in defense technology and military contractor Anduril Industries.