Last week at New York City’s Toy Fair, I got to see the next release of MrBeast Labs’ toys. The kind Moose Labs representatives told me that their collaboration with Jimmy “MrBeast” Donaldson was a massive success for the company, and they were going all in on wave two.
They’ve already announced a new animated series set to release in the fall from Robot Chicken Studio Stoopid Buddy Stoodios. The cartoon will be set around “Hybrid Beasts,” which I’ve seen but can’t discuss.
As I stared at a life-size cardboard cutout of Donaldson with his trademark dead-eye smile, I was reminded that MrBeast is so much more than just a YouTuber. He’s got chocolate bars, a television show, hotel collaborations, and more to be announced. All of which are valued higher than the content he produces.
Last week Bloomberg revealed that his chocolate line Feastables made $20 million in profit last year. Those profits came as MrBeast’s media business, including his videos and Beast Games reality show, lost $80 million.
According to The Verge, the Content division spends 90 percent of its revenue on production costs. Donaldson has been talking with investors about raising $200 million, evaluating the MrBeast brand at $5 billion.
MrBeast’s History of Reinvesting In His Videos
Since his first sponsorship back in 2018, Donaldson has been reinvesting his earnings back into his videos. It started when he gave $10,000 of sponsorship money by Quidd to a homeless person. This earned him his first viral video. In 2022, Donaldson said in a podcast he was spending between $7 to $8 million a month on his businesses.
The MrBeast channel numbers are massive and are only slowing down a little bit. His latest upload, “Last to Leave Their Circle Wins $500,000,” is sitting at 69 million views after 10 days. This is only slightly less than what he was getting a few years ago.
One of his biggest viral successes is a March 2023 video of an assassin trying to kill him. It currently sits at 300 million views. However, according to ViewStats, it received 79 million views in the same amount of time as his latest video. That little downtick might not seem like much. But MrBeast’s company has grown to around 500 employees, and if ad revenue was their sole source of income, it could hurt.
I’ve been a vocal critic of how Donaldson produces this content that he aims at children. I’ve published multiple stories about crew members on the set of Beast Games who felt overworked, mistreated, or seriously injured. That work culture stems directly from Donaldson, who gives away the money on camera rather than investing it into the production.
Unless their moms happen to read these articles, it’s unlikely these parents are aware of the problems Donaldson’s sets have. They just see his flashy videos and buy his merch. These productions can keep losing money as long as they are good enough advertisements to keep his other ventures cash-positive.
