MrBeast Net Worth 2026: How Jimmy Donaldson Built a $2.6 Billion Empire

MrBeast’s net worth is about $2.6 billion, according to a January 2026 Fortune report that values his majority stake in Beast Industries, the company behind his YouTube channels, Feastables chocolate and the Amazon show Beast Games. Investors valued the company at about $5 billion in recent funding rounds, and Jimmy Donaldson owns a little more than half of it.

MrBeast: quick facts

Net worth

$2.6 Billion

Salary / earnings

$300 Million per year

Source of wealth

YouTube, Beast Industries, Feastables

Profession

YouTuber, Entrepreneur

Nationality

American

Place of birth

Wichita, Kansas, United States

Date of birth

May 7, 1998 (age 28)

That makes him the richest YouTube creator in the world and one of the youngest self-made billionaires on paper. In late 2022, Forbes put his fortune at about $500 million. In about three years, the value of his company grew roughly fivefold.

Almost all of that wealth is tied up in equity, not cash. Donaldson spends nearly everything he earns on bigger videos, and in a January 2026 Wall Street Journal interview he said he was borrowing money because he had so little in his bank account. Forbes has not published its own net worth estimate for him. It does track his income, and estimated he earned $300 million from March 2025 to March 2026.

MrBeast at a glance

• Net worth: about $2.6 billion (Fortune, January 2026)
• Real name: James Stephen “Jimmy” Donaldson
• Born: May 7, 1998, in Wichita, Kansas
• Profession: YouTuber, entrepreneur, TV host and producer
• Company: Beast Industries (MrBeast channels, Feastables, Beast Games, Viewstats, Step, Beast Philanthropy)
• Biggest payday: about $300 million in earnings in a single year (Forbes Top Creators 2026)
• Audience: the most-subscribed YouTube channel, and the first creator to pass 500 million subscribers (June 2026)
• Awards: four Streamy Creator of the Year awards, Time 100 (2023), Forbes 30 Under 30 (2021)
• Spouse: Thea Booysen (married 2026)

His net worth over time is shown in the chart on this page.

Where MrBeast’s money comes from

Source	Details	Estimate
Beast Industries stake	Slightly more than 50% of the holding company	About $2.6 billion on paper, based on a roughly $5 billion valuation
Feastables	Chocolate bars and snacks sold in major retailers	About $250 million in 2024 sales and more than $20 million profit (Bloomberg)
YouTube media	Ad revenue, sponsorships and licensing across his channels	About $250 million in 2024 sales, but a loss of nearly $80 million (Bloomberg)
Beast Games	Amazon Prime Video competition show	A reported deal of about $100 million
Other businesses	Viewstats analytics, Step fintech app, Lunchly, licensing	Not disclosed
Real estate	Homes and studio land in Greenville, North Carolina	Several million dollars

Annual earnings

Forbes ranks the world’s top-earning online creators every year. The figures are pre-tax and cover roughly a 12-month period. Donaldson has disputed some of them, saying he reinvests nearly all of the money.

Forbes list	Earnings	Rank
2020	$24 million	No. 2 among YouTubers
2021	$54 million	No. 1 among YouTubers
2023	$82 million	No. 1 creator
2025	$85 million	No. 1 creator
2026	$300 million	No. 1 creator, more than four times No. 2

The jump in 2026 shows how much bigger his business has become. Second place on the 2026 list, Dhar Mann, earned an estimated $65 million.

Early life

James Stephen Donaldson was born on May 7, 1998, in Wichita, Kansas. He grew up mainly in Greenville, North Carolina, with his mother, Susan Parisher, and his older brother, CJ. His parents divorced in 2007.

As a teenager he was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, a bowel condition that ended his hopes of playing baseball. He graduated from Greenville Christian Academy in 2016.

He enrolled at Pitt Community College but dropped out within months to make YouTube videos full-time. His mother did not support the decision at first and asked him to move out.

Early YouTube career

Donaldson uploaded his first video in February 2012, at age 13, under the name “MrBeast6000.” For years he made gaming videos, commentary and lists of how much other YouTubers earned, with only modest success.

He spent much of his time studying what made videos go viral. He and a few friends talked daily about thumbnails, titles and how long viewers kept watching.

His breakthrough came in January 2017 with “I Counted to 100,000!”, a video that took about 40 hours to film. It drew millions of views and set the template for his style: simple, extreme challenges that are easy to explain in one line.

The giveaway formula

In mid-2017 he landed his first sponsorship, a $10,000 deal with the app Quidd. Instead of keeping it, he gave the whole amount to a homeless man and filmed it. The video was a hit, and giving away money became his signature.

From there, the stunts grew bigger. Donaldson started reinvesting every dollar of ad and sponsor revenue into the next video. Typical videos included:

• Handing out cash to strangers, Uber drivers and restaurant staff
• Last-to-leave challenges with large cash prizes
• Giving away cars, houses and private islands
• A real-life Squid Game recreation with a $456,000 prize (2021)

His budgets climbed into the millions of dollars per video. That spending is a big reason his channel grew faster than almost any other, and also why his media business has often lost money.

Becoming YouTube’s biggest channel

Subscriber growth exploded in the early 2020s. Key milestones include:

• July 2022: 100 million subscribers
• November 2022: Guinness World Record for most subscribers for an individual
• October 2023: 200 million subscribers
• June 2024: passed T-Series to become the most-subscribed channel on YouTube
• July 2024: first creator to reach 300 million
• June 2025: first to reach 400 million
• June 2026: first to reach 500 million

He also runs several other channels, including dubbed versions in Spanish, Portuguese, Hindi and other languages. Most of his viewers live outside the United States, which helps make his audience valuable to global brands.

Building Beast Industries

Donaldson gradually turned his channel into a full company. In 2022, Forbes reported that he was the sole owner of his studio and was looking to sell about 10% at a valuation of around $1.5 billion.

The business was later renamed Beast Industries. In September 2024, former Shutterfly CEO Jeff Housenbold became chief executive. That year, Bloomberg reported a funding round that valued the company at about $5 billion.

Investor documents reported by Bloomberg and Business Insider in 2025 showed:

• Total revenue of about $473 million in 2024
• Media revenue of about $250 million, with a loss of nearly $80 million
• Feastables revenue of about $250 million, with more than $20 million in profit
• A target of roughly $900 million in total revenue for 2025

In January 2026, the crypto-treasury company Bitmine Immersion Technologies announced a $200 million equity investment in Beast Industries. In February 2026, Beast Industries bought Step, a banking app aimed at teens and young adults. The deal drew a letter of questions from Senator Elizabeth Warren in March 2026.

Why the net worth is mostly on paper

Donaldson’s $2.6 billion figure comes from multiplying his ownership share by the company’s private valuation. He cannot easily turn that into cash. In the January 2026 WSJ interview, he said he keeps very little money personally and was borrowing to cover costs, including from his mother for his wedding.

Business ventures

Feastables

Donaldson launched Feastables in January 2022, starting with chocolate bars. It sold about 4 million bars in its first three months, according to Forbes, and quickly reached Walmart, Target and other big chains.

The recipe and packaging were revamped in early 2024. Feastables is now the most profitable part of Beast Industries, and his videos work as free advertising for it.

MrBeast Burger

MrBeast Burger launched in December 2020 as a delivery-only “virtual” restaurant, run through partner kitchens with Virtual Dining Concepts. Forbes reported about $70 million in sales in 2021, with Donaldson earning about $3 million from his share.

A physical restaurant opened at the American Dream mall in New Jersey in 2022. In 2023 Donaldson sued Virtual Dining Concepts, saying the food quality hurt his reputation, and the company countersued.

Lunchly

In September 2024, Donaldson launched Lunchly, a packaged lunch kit, with fellow creators Logan Paul and KSI. It is sold alongside their Prime drinks and Feastables bars and has faced criticism over its nutrition and quality.

Viewstats and Step

Viewstats is a paid analytics tool that helps creators track video performance. Step, bought in 2026, gives Beast Industries a move into financial services for young users.

Beast Games and TV work

In 2024 Amazon ordered Beast Games, a competition show for 1,000 contestants. Donaldson’s deal was reported at about $100 million. The first season premiered on Prime Video in December 2024, and the winner took home a record-setting cash prize.

Amazon renewed the show for two more seasons in May 2025. Donaldson has said he lost tens of millions of dollars on the first season because he spent more than Amazon paid. In 2024 former contestants filed a lawsuit alleging poor conditions on set; the claims remain allegations.

He has also done voice roles in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (2023) and Kung Fu Panda 4 (2024), and was announced as a guest investor on Shark Tank in 2026.

Brand deals

Brands pay heavily to appear in his videos because of his huge, young audience. Sponsorships are a major source of media revenue, though most of that money goes straight back into production.

Real estate

Donaldson’s property holdings are modest compared with other billionaires. Most of his spending is on his studio complex outside Greenville, North Carolina.

Property	Year	Reported price
First house on a Greenville cul-de-sac	2018–2019	About $320,000
Second house on the same street	2020	About $263,000
Three more houses on the street	2021–2022	About $1.45 million in total
Studio land and nearby fields (via Creative Grid LLC)	2021–2023	Not disclosed; well over 100 acres

He bought most of the homes on the cul-de-sac for himself, family and employees. The studio site includes a warehouse used for big sets, such as his Willy Wonka-style chocolate factory video.

Personal life

Donaldson dated YouTuber Maddy Spidell from 2019 to 2022. He then began a relationship with South African gaming streamer Thea Booysen.

He proposed on Christmas Day 2024, and the couple married on Necker Island in the British Virgin Islands; the wedding was confirmed in July 2026. He still lives and works in the Greenville area.

He has also faced lawsuits and criticism, including workplace complaints from former staff and the Beast Games contestant suit. He has denied wrongdoing in these cases.

Philanthropy

Giving is a core part of the MrBeast brand. In 2023 he said he plans to give away all his money before he dies, though he has not signed a formal pledge. His main charity efforts include:

• Team Trees (2019, with Mark Rober): raised more than $24 million to plant over 24 million trees
• Team Seas (2021): raised more than $34 million to remove ocean trash
• Team Water (2025): raised more than $40 million for clean water through WaterAid
• Beast Philanthropy (2020): a charity channel whose revenue funds food banks; it has provided over 20 million free meals
• Videos paying for cataract surgery for 1,000 people, hearing aids for 1,000 people and 100 water wells in Africa

How MrBeast compares

Person	Estimated net worth	Main source
MrBeast	About $2.6 billion	Beast Industries (YouTube, Feastables)
Taylor Swift	About $2 billion	Music catalog and touring
Kim Kardashian	About $1.7 billion	Skims and reality TV
Ben Francis	About $1.3 billion	Gymshark

Figures are from Fortune (January 2026) and Forbes (2025–2026). Unlike most billionaires, MrBeast built his fortune almost entirely from online video. See more of the richest influencers or the richest people in the world.

Frequently asked questions

How much is MrBeast worth?

About $2.6 billion, according to a January 2026 Fortune report based on his majority stake in Beast Industries.

Is MrBeast a billionaire?

On paper, yes. His stake in Beast Industries, valued at about $5 billion, is worth well over $1 billion. Most of it is not cash, and he has said he borrows money to cover personal costs.

How much does MrBeast make a year?

Forbes estimated he earned about $300 million from March 2025 to March 2026, the most of any online creator. He reinvests most of it into his videos and businesses.

How much of Beast Industries does MrBeast own?

Slightly more than half, according to reports on the company’s funding rounds.

How much does Feastables make?

About $250 million in 2024 sales with more than $20 million in profit, according to investor documents reported by Bloomberg.

What is MrBeast’s real name?

James Stephen “Jimmy” Donaldson. He was born on May 7, 1998, in Wichita, Kansas, and grew up in Greenville, North Carolina.

Sources: Fortune (January 2026), Forbes (2022 profile; Top Creators lists 2020–2026), Bloomberg and Business Insider (Beast Industries investor documents), The Wall Street Journal, Bitmine press release (January 2026), The News & Observer, Wikipedia. All net worth figures are estimates.