MrBeast

James Stephen "Jimmy" Donaldson (born May 7, 1998), better known as MrBeast, is an American YouTuber, media personality, philanthropist, and businessman. The founder of Beast Industries, a conglomerate that holds various media channels, MrBeast Burger, Feastables, Lunchly and more, he produces high-paced YouTube videos built around elaborate challenges and grandiose philanthropic efforts, that are noted for their high production values. With more than 468 million subscribers, his main channel is the most subscribed on YouTube. He also is the third most followed account on TikTok.

Donaldson was born in Wichita, Kansas, and raised in Greenville, North Carolina. He began posting videos to YouTube in early 2012 under the handle MrBeast6000. His early uploads ranged from Let's Play videos to estimations of other YouTubers' wealth. In 2017, after his video "I Counted to 100,000!" drew tens of thousands of views within days, his productions quickly became more extravagant. As the audience expanded, Donaldson brought longtime friends into the brand and launched companion channels including Beast Reacts (formerly BeastHacks), MrBeast Gaming, MrBeast 2 (formerly MrBeast Shorts), and Beast Philanthropy.

He co-founded Team Trees—a fundraiser for the Arbor Day Foundation that has raised more than $24 million—and launched Lunchly, a food and snack brand rivaling Lunchables. He also co-founded Team Seas, a fundraiser for Ocean Conservancy and The Ocean Cleanup that has raised over $30 million, and created the reality competition series Beast Games. In 2025, he co-founded Team Water, another fundraiser that raised over 40 million dollars for WaterAid.

Donaldson won the Creator of the Year award at the Streamy Awards in 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023. He also won Favorite Male Creator at the 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards. In 2023, Time named him one of the world's 100 most influential people, and the magazine included him in its 2025 Time 100 Creators list. Forbes ranked him first among the highest-paid YouTube creators in 2024. Fortune estimated his net worth at $2.6 billion in 2026.

Early life and education

James Stephen Donaldson was born in Wichita, Kansas, on May 7, 1998. He was mainly raised in Greenville, North Carolina. He moved houses often and was under the care of au pairs because his parents, Susan Parisher and Charles Donaldson, worked long hours and served in the military. His parents divorced in 2007. In 2016, Donaldson graduated from Greenville Christian Academy, a private evangelical Christian high school in the area. While at Greenville Christian, Donaldson played baseball as an outfielder for several years. He briefly attended Pitt Community College in Winterville, North Carolina, before dropping out.

After dropping out of college, Donaldson and his friends attempted to analyze and understand YouTube's recommendation algorithm to create viral videos. Donaldson recalled regarding this period, "There's a five-year point in my life where I was just relentlessly, unhealthily obsessed with studying virality, studying the YouTube algorithm. I woke up. I would order Uber Eats food. And then I would just sit on my computer all day just studying shit nonstop with [other YouTubers]."

YouTube career

2012–2017: Early career

Donaldson uploaded his first YouTube video in February 2012, at the age of 13, under the channel name "MrBeast6000". His early content included Let's Plays focusing on Minecraft and Call of Duty: Black Ops II, videos estimating the wealth of other YouTubers, videos that offered tips to upcoming YouTube creators, and commentary on YouTube drama. Donaldson appeared infrequently in these videos.

In 2015 and 2016, Donaldson gained popularity with his "Worst Intros on YouTube" series, poking fun at YouTube video introductions. By mid-2016, Donaldson had around 30,000 subscribers. Donaldson dropped out of college in late 2016 to pursue a full-time career as a YouTuber. His mother disapproved of his decision and forced him to leave the family home as a result.

As his channel grew, Donaldson hired four childhood friends—Ava Kris Tyson (at that time named Chris Tyson), Chandler Hallow, Garrett Ronalds, and Jake Franklin—to contribute to his channel. Franklin left the crew in 2020. Karl Jacobs, previously a cameraman, was promoted to replace him. Tyson left the crew in 2024.

2017–2020: Rise to fame

In January 2017, Donaldson published an almost day-long video of himself counting to 100,000, which became his breakthrough viral video. The ordeal took him 40 hours, with some parts sped up to "keep it under 24 hours". Donaldson gained popularity during this period with stunts, such as attempting to break glass using a hundred megaphones, watching paint dry for an hour, staying underwater for 24 hours, which ended up failing due to health issues, and an unsuccessful attempt to spin a fidget spinner for a day. By 2018, Donaldson had given out $1 million through his stunts, earning him the title "YouTube's biggest philanthropist".

In June 2017, Donaldson gained his first brand deal, from a digital collectibles app called Quidd. This partnership funded his first philanthropic video in June 2017, where he gave the entirety of the $10,000 sponsor's fee to a homeless person. This set the stage for his now-famous brand of large-scale giveaways and philanthropic stunts.

During the PewDiePie vs. T-Series rivalry in 2018, a competition to become the most-subscribed channel on YouTube, Donaldson bought billboards and numerous television and radio advertisements to help PewDiePie gain more subscribers than T-Series. During Super Bowl LIII, he purchased multiple seats for himself and his team, whose shirts spelled out "Sub 2 PewDiePie".

In March 2019, Donaldson organized and filmed a real-life battle royale competition in Los Angeles with prizes totaling $200,000 (two games were played, each awarding $100,000) in collaboration with Apex Legends. Apex Legends publisher Electronic Arts sponsored the event and prize pool.

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. Professional esports player Nadeshot won the event. In October 2020, Donaldson hosted another influencer tournament. This time, it was trivia, featuring 24 competitors with a grand prize of $300,000. The tournament's winners were siblings Charli and Dixie D'Amelio, which caused controversy due to claims that they cheated.

2021–present: mainstream success

On January 1, 2021, Donaldson released the "YouTube Rewind 2020, Thank God It's Over" video. 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 shout-out to PewDiePie, citing him and his 2018 Rewind as the inspiration for Donaldson's Rewind. Donaldson signed a Facebook and Snapchat content distribution deal with Jellysmack a month later.

During a Clubhouse room in February 2021, Donaldson removed entrepreneur Farokh Sarmad after he allegedly said he could not pronounce his name, a move that Sarmad later said was racist. Sarmad's claims were questioned and denied by other Clubhouse users, who were present at the call and argued against Sarmad's claims, claiming that Donaldson removed him and others to make room for women to be more inclusive.

In April 2021, Donaldson announced a sponsorship with mobile banking app Current, marking the first time he took an ownership stake as part of a sponsorship deal. Donaldson stated he struck the deal with Current's SVP of Marketing Adam Hadi, who worked with Donaldson on his first brand deal with Quidd in 2017.

In November 2021, Donaldson uploaded "$456,000 Squid Game in Real Life!", a recreation of the survival drama streaming television series Squid Game in real life. The video had 456 people compete for a $456,000 cash prize. It was one of the most-watched YouTube videos of 2021, receiving over 130 million views within a week. A review of the video in Vice argued that it "badly misunderstood the anti-capitalist message of Squid Game". Despite this, Squid Game creator Hwang Dong-hyuk has reacted positively to the recreations and parodies of the series.

In December 2021, Donaldson created a third influencer tournament featuring 15 competitors with a grand prize of $1 million. In January 2022, Forbes ranked Donaldson as YouTube's highest-earning creator, earning an estimated $54 million in 2021. Forbes 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.