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When Jimmy Donaldson filed a trademark for “MrBeast Financial” last month, it seemed like just another wild pivot for the YouTube star who already sells candy bars and runs game shows when not posting videos of crazy stunts. But for someone whose 450 million subscribers represent a population larger than the United States, maybe offering banking services is the most logical move yet.
Donaldson, 27, isn’t just YouTube’s biggest creator. He’s rapidly becoming its most unconventional CEO, building a $5 billion company called Beast Industries that includes chocolate manufacturing, a Prime Video show, a Saudi Arabian theme park, and soon, financial services.
There is no modern company or entrepreneur like him, no Harvard Business School case study to follow. But Donaldson has built an empire on a principle that seemingly works: If you can consistently get 250 million views per video, you can sell your audience almost anything.
The numbers tell a story that would make any MBA’s head spin. Beast Industries generated about $450 million in revenue last year, split between videos and Feastables chocolate. The candy business alone pulls in $200 million annually, with projections to double in the coming years.
Yet the company hemorrhages money on the main product that started it all, spending $3 to $4 million per video for content that often operates at a loss. The company has lost money the last three years, in the red to the tune of $110 million in 2024.
The economics of viral video are brutal, which is why Donaldson and other creators are building businesses that don’t depend on views alone.
Emma Chamberlain’s coffee brand, launched by the lifestyle vlogger in 2019, is projected to hit $33 million in revenue by 2025. YouTuber-wrestler Logan Paul’s Prime energy drink surpassed $1.2 billion in sales in 2023, though it has since cooled. Ryan Kaji, the 13-year-old behind Ryan’s World, reportedly generated over $250 million in toy sales in 2020. These aren’t merchandise plays or licensing deals. They’re real businesses with supply chains, retail partnerships, and profit margins that dwarf what YouTube ads could ever provide.
The shift makes sense when you understand the economics. YouTube’s Partner Program typically pays creators between $1 and $5 per thousand views. Even at MrBeast’s scale, with videos averaging 250 million views, that’s maybe $1.25 million per video in ad revenue. Against production costs of $3 to $4 million, the math doesn’t work. But if just 1% of those viewers buy a $3 chocolate bar, that’s $7.5 million in revenue, and with much higher margins.
What’s unique about Donaldson’s approach is how aggressively he’s pushing into regulated industries. Banking and financial services require licenses, compliance infrastructure, and capital requirements that make chocolate bars and coffee companies look simple by comparison. His pitch deck outlined nine potential financial offerings, including student loans and insurance (and yes, crypto too), targeting his predominantly young male audience who might not have traditional banking relationships.
The Saudi theme park, opening this week through Dec., offers a glimpse of Donaldson’s ultimate vision. Called Beast Land, it features games pulled directly from his videos, including one where contestants stand on trap doors and whoever presses a button last gets dropped. Tickets range from $7 for basic entry to $66 for full access. It’s physical, experiential, and completely independent of any algorithm.
This is the deeper strategy at work. Every new venture reduces Donaldson’s dependence on YouTube while leveraging the audience he’s built there. Feastables doesn’t need YouTube to survive, although YouTube supercharges its growth. The theme park could theoretically franchise globally. Financial services, once established, generate recurring revenue that doesn’t require Donaldson to light anything on fire and point a camera at it.
Beast Industries CEO Jeff Housenbold, hired last year from Silicon Valley, is trying to turn this chaos into a sustainable business. He has cut $100 million from Beast’s budget and brought in executives from places like TikTok, Snap, and NBCUniversal. The goal is profitability by 2026 and eventually going public. Whether that’s possible while maintaining what makes the MrBeast distinctive remains an open question.
The traditional path for media personalities has been to maximize their moment and cash out. Donaldson is betting on something different. He’s betting that a creator with a large enough audience can bypass traditional business models entirely. That losing money on content can be profitable if you own everything else. That in an attention economy, the person who commands the most attention can write their own rules.
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