Age, Biography, and Wiki
James Stephen "Jimmy" Donaldson, better known as MrBeast, was born on May 7, 1998, in Wichita, Kansas, though he grew up in Greenville, North Carolina. He is renowned for his extravagant and philanthropic content on YouTube. MrBeast's rise to fame began when he started posting videos on YouTube in early 2012 under the handle MrBeast6000. His viral "counting to 100,000" video in 2017 catapulted him to widespread recognition.
| Occupation | YouTubers |
|---|---|
| Date of Birth | 7 May 1998 |
| Age | 27 Years |
| Birth Place | Wichita, Kansas, U.S. |
| Horoscope | Taurus |
| Country | U.S |
Height, Weight & Measurements
While MrBeast's height and weight are not widely documented, he is often seen in physically demanding challenges and stunts in his videos, which suggest a fit physique. However, specific measurements are not publicly available.
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Dating & Relationship Status
MrBeast has kept his personal life somewhat private, and there is limited information about his current relationship status. He has been linked to Maddy Spidell, but the details of their relationship are not extensively covered in the media.
He was mainly raised in Greenville, North Carolina. He moved houses often and was under the care of au pairs because his parents 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. He briefly attended East Carolina University before dropping out. While at Greenville Christian, Donaldson played baseball as an outfielder for several years. 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]."
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.
Donaldson describes himself as an introvert and admits struggling to maintain a social life due to his intense focus on YouTube and work ethic. His mother, Sue, attributes his withdrawn lifestyle to their frequent relocations and his struggles with Crohn's disease.
Donaldson dated YouTuber Maddy Spidell from 2019 to 2022 and began dating gaming streamer Thea Booysen in 2022. On January 1, 2025, he announced his engagement to Booysen, which began on December 25, 2024.
Since June 2, 2024, MrBeast has been the most subscribed channel on YouTube, surpassing T-Series. A February 2021 poll from Insider showed that 70% of respondents had a favorable view of him, compared to 12% who had an unfavorable view. His channel appeals strongly to younger viewers. Donaldson also builds a parasocial relationship with his viewers by "looking directly at the camera and talking to the audience" and displaying himself as "an exciting, relatable, authentic, down-to-earth person".
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Net Worth
MrBeast is one of the wealthiest YouTubers, with an estimated net worth that is substantial, though exact figures are not consistently reported. His wealth is derived from his highly successful YouTube channel, various business ventures, and philanthropic efforts.
Donaldson was raised in Greenville, North Carolina. He began posting videos to YouTube in early 2012 under the handle. His early content ranged from Let's Plays to "videos estimating the wealth of other YouTubers". He went viral in 2017 after his "counting to 100,000" video earned tens of thousands of views in just a few days. His videos have become increasingly grand and extravagant. Once his channel took off, Donaldson hired some childhood friends to co-run the brand. Donaldson also runs the YouTube channels Beast Reacts (formerly BeastHacks), MrBeast Gaming, MrBeast 2 (formerly MrBeast Shorts), and the philanthropy channel Beast Philanthropy.
Donaldson won the Creator of the Year award four years in a row at the Streamy Awards in 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023; he also won the Favorite Male Creator award three times at the 2022, 2023 and 2024 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards. In 2023, Time named him one of the world's 100 most influential people. He ranked first on the Forbes list for the highest-paid YouTube creator in 2024. In 2022, Forbes estimated his net worth at $500 million.
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 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.
Donaldson's funding for these videos mainly comes from sponsorships, as well as Google's AdSense program. In 2022, Donaldson was reported to spend about $1 million on each video. Donaldson uses his reaction and gaming channel to help finance his main channel, as their videos are relatively cheap to produce and make a substantial amount of money. The Verge noted that his revenue is self-perpetuating: "The more viral he becomes, the more brands want to work with him, and the bigger his own AdSense earnings get. He can then entice viewers with even bigger giveaway videos. It's a never ending cycle." In an interview with Rolling Stone, he stated, "I could be doing cheaper videos, [...] But I just don't want to. I want to push the boundaries to go bigger, bigger." Donaldson earns passive income through merchandise, MrBeast Burger, and Feastables.
On September 17, 2020, Donaldson created the YouTube channel Beast Philanthropy. In the channel's first video, Donaldson announced the charity and food bank and named Darren Margolias, who appeared previously as an executive director. According to the channel's description, it donates 100% of its advertising revenue, brand deals, and merchandise sales to charity.
However, some critics have questioned Donaldson's motives and ethics. Users on social media accused Donaldson of exploiting poverty for views, deeming his content "charity porn". His philanthropy has been criticized for not addressing the root causes of systemic inequality. In response, Donaldson claimed that he does not profit from Beast Philanthropy or its videos and that all revenue goes towards charity. He also stressed the importance of the government's role in solving systemic issues.
Social Network
MrBeast is incredibly popular across multiple social media platforms:
- YouTube: He has over 390 million subscribers, making him the most-subscribed YouTuber.
- TikTok: He is the third-most-followed creator, with over 115 million followers.
- Twitter and Instagram: He maintains a strong presence on these platforms as well, though specific follower counts are not as widely reported as his YouTube and TikTok figures.
James Stephen "Jimmy" Donaldson (born May 7, 1998), better known by his online alias MrBeast, is an American YouTuber, media personality, and businessman. He is known for his fast-paced and high-production YouTube videos, where he often hosts elaborate challenges and philanthropic efforts. With over 390 million subscribers, he has the most subscribers on any YouTube channel; he is also the third-most-followed creator on TikTok, with over 115 million followers.
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".
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 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.
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 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.
On July 28, 2022, Donaldson surpassed 100 million subscribers on his main channel, making him the fifth channel and the second individual YouTuber to achieve the milestone. On November 17, 2022, Donaldson achieved the Guinness World Record of "Most Subscribers for an Individual Male on YouTube" with his MrBeast channel at 112 million subscribers. The previous record holder, PewDiePie, had held the record as the most subscribed YouTuber for almost ten years. Donaldson achieved one billion video views over 30 days on his main YouTube channel in November 2022. On October 15, 2023, Donaldson surpassed 200million subscribers. His YouTube Shorts video "Would You Fly to Paris for a Baguette?" is the most-watched video on his main YouTube channel, having more than 1.5 billion views and 56 million likes as of May 2025.
On June 2, 2024, Donaldson surpassed India-based music label and film production company T-Series for the title of the most subscribed channel on YouTube, at 267 million. On July 10, 2024, Donaldson became the first YouTuber to surpass 300 million subscribers. On July 13, 2024, Donaldson uploaded his 300 million subscribers special, "50 YouTubers Fight for $1,000,000". The video featured guest appearances from Howie Mandel, Miranda Cosgrove, and Joey Chestnut. This video reached 71 million views in the first 24 hours, becoming Donaldson's most-viewed video within its first 24 hours. In his video Beat Ronaldo, Win $1,000,000, Cristiano Ronaldo, Tom Brady, and Noah Lyles made guest appearances. Neymar, Stephen Curry, and Serena Williams, made guest appearances in the video Beat Neymar, Win $500,000.
In his early career, Donaldson's content usually consisted of Let's Plays, "best and worst" videos, and YouTube commentary. Donaldson's present-day videos are categorized into three genres: stunt videos, where Donaldson or other participants perform challenges that are interesting, challenging, or dangerous; "junklord" videos, where Donaldson uses a large quantity of a particular product unusually or spends an extravagant amount on it; and giveaway videos, where Donaldson gives away large amounts of money or extravagant prizes to people, usually including a competitive aspect. Giveaway videos are considered a distinctive feature of Donaldson's content.
Donaldson's videos leverage YouTube's recommendation algorithm to go viral, mainly by maximizing click-through rate and viewer retention. He prioritizes creating effective topics, titles, and thumbnails to maximize the click-through rate. In an interview with Lex Fridman, he stated that for him to make a viral video, it needed to be "original, creative, something people really need to see, ideally never been done before". He designed his titles to attract attention by promising outrageous stunts and using specific keywords like "24-hours" and "challenge". His thumbnails are easily understandable, clearly focused, and brightly colored. To maximize viewer retention, Donaldson paces the videos to have viewers engaged throughout. His videos typically span 10–30 minutes. He hooks viewers by explaining the premise in under half a minute at the start of the video and promises a "finale" to engage viewers until the end.
On March 3, 2023, Donaldson asked fans on Twitter to "clean up the presentation" of Feastables displays on store shelves and suggested that they obscure competing products. Feastables offered fans entry into a $5,000 raffle if they provided proof of their assistance. The tweets drew criticism and accusations that Feastables exploited fans for unpaid labor.
Lunchly faced substantial criticism on various social media platforms from individuals who questioned the lunch kit's marketing tactics and nutritional quality. Notably, YouTuber DanTDM expressed his disapproval of Lunchly by posting on his X (formerly Twitter) profile, "This is selling crap to kids who don't know better than to trust the people who are selling it to them." There also have been reports of mold being found within the product.
In 2023, a free ad-supported streaming television channel named Mr. Beast that shows only previously released MrBeast YouTube videos began airing on the Roku Channel service.
On October 25, 2019, Donaldson and fellow YouTuber Mark Rober announced a collaborative fundraising challenge event on YouTube called #TeamTrees. This project aimed to raise $20 million for the Arbor Day Foundation by January 1, 2020, and plant trees "no later than December 2022". Every donation was said to go to the Arbor Day Foundation, which pledged to plant one tree for every dollar donated. Notable YouTubers such as Rhett & Link, Marshmello, iJustine, Marques Brownlee, The Slow Mo Guys, Ninja, Simone Giertz, Jacksepticeye, and Smarter Every Day brought attention to the project, and the foundation began planting trees in October 2019 in U.S. national parks.
On October 29, 2021, Donaldson and Rober organized another collaborative challenge event on YouTube titled #TeamSeas. This project aimed to raise $30million for the Ocean Conservancy and The Ocean Cleanup by January 1, 2022. The $30 million goal would fund the removal of 30 e6lb of plastic and other waste from oceans, rivers, and beaches. Donaldson and Rober enlisted thousands of content creators, including AzzyLand, DanTDM, TommyInnit, LinusTechTips, TierZoo, LEMMiNO, The Infographics Show, Hannah Stocking, Dhar Mann, and Marques Brownlee. They partnered with BEN and TubeBuddy's eight million global creators initiative to promote the fundraiser.
Some former employees alleged that Donaldson nurtured a difficult work environment. In a May 2021 New York Times article, Matt Turner, an editor for Donaldson from February 2018 to September 2019, claimed that Donaldson berated him almost daily, including calling him a "retard". Turner reported that he was regularly not credited for his work. Reporting by Insider showed that Turner previously posted a video in 2018 explaining his allegations and, in October 2019, released a deleted Twitter thread that stated that he was "yelled at, bullied, called mentally retarded and replaceable by Donaldson every single day". Nate Anderson, another editor, quit after working for Donaldson for a week in 2018 over what he said were unreasonable demands and called Donaldson a perfectionist. After releasing a video describing his experience, Anderson reportedly received death threats from Donaldson's fans. Nine other employees who worked for Donaldson also stated that while he was sometimes generous, his demeanor would change when the cameras were off. Donaldson disputed these claims, saying: "We have high standards, but it's not a toxic work environment." Donaldson also claimed that he gave Turner $10,000 and suggested a job at another company at the end of his contract.
One of the alleged victims, going by the name LavaGS online, initially responded to the allegations by denying that he had been groomed, referring to it as "massive lies and twisting the truth", and claimed that Tyson had only "made a few edgy jokes", reaffirming Tyson's own claims. He later rescinded the statement, said that the conversations were inappropriate for his age, and acknowledged that he was a minor who did not recognize the wrongdoing at the time. He then rescinded his previous rescission by stating, "It was incredibly difficult having my name thrown around in a public forum without being given the opportunity to share the truth. Thankfully the people doing the investigation actually did reach out and gave me the opportunity to tell the truth, which I very much appreciated. I was not groomed, these were false allegations made up by other people with my name thrown in them."
On July 24, 2024, one of Donaldson's former employees, DogPack404, released a video on his YouTube channel accusing Donaldson of rigging contests, running illegal lotteries, faking his videos, faking signatures, and deceiving his fans.
Donaldson has stated that he is apolitical because he wants to avoid alienating his audience, which would interfere with his charity goal. On a podcast in September 2022, Donaldson commented that he would consider running for president of the United States "in like 20 years", adding that the U.S. is "due for younger presidents". On July 6, 2024, during the 2024 presidential election, Donaldson wrote on Twitter, "If we lower the age to run for president I'll jump in the race." Donaldson clarified in another Twitter post that he was reiterating his apolitical position. However, he is close friends with Logan Paul and Jake Paul, who endorsed Trump in 2024, and he is also a fan of Elon Musk.
In May 2018, The Atlantic published an article on Donaldson's history of using homophobic slurs. The article stated that Donaldson, while still a teenager, had a habit of referring to people as "fags" on Twitter and regularly treated being homosexual as a punchline and "gay" as an insult. Donaldson later removed the tweets, and in 2021, a spokesperson for Donaldson said that he had "grown up and matured into someone that doesn't speak like that".
According to Charissa Cheong of Insider, Donaldson becoming the most-subscribed YouTuber marks a shift in YouTube content away from traditional vlogging towards elaborate high-production videos that create a more "television-like experience". She wrote, "the future of YouTube content will likely look more 'experimental' now that Donaldson's high-stakes challenges are performing so well. Creators are going to keep trying to 'push the boundaries of what is possible' by trying new and 'extreme' formats and genres." Fellow YouTuber and former NASA engineer Mark Rober wrote that Donaldson is "constantly raising the bar for creators whether it's through re-creating Squid Game in real life or paying for the eye surgeries of 1,000 blind people". Donaldson has inspired many young YouTubers. His "extreme challenge videos" have influenced other YouTubers like Fidias and Airrack, who have made videos in a similar style.
Education
There is limited information about MrBeast's educational background. He has focused more on his career in content creation since his early days on YouTube.
In September 2024, a class action lawsuit on behalf of five former contestants of Beast Games was filed against Donaldson, Amazon, and associated production companies in Los Angeles Superior Court. The lawsuit alleged that the Beast Games contestants experienced widespread mistreatment, sexual harassment, and unpaid expenses and wages. The lawsuit also alleged that these violations occurred to gain Nevada tax credits: "Plaintiffs and the Proposed Class [were forced] to enter into illegal contracts and provid[e] false information to the State of Nevada to obtain unearned tax credits."
Additional Information
MrBeast is known for his elaborate stunts and charitable endeavors, which have become a hallmark of his content. Beyond YouTube, he has expanded his reach through various business ventures, including multiple consumer brands and a streaming show, "Beast Games". Despite his success, he has faced challenges such as scandals and lawsuits, but continues to build a media empire akin to Disney.
