- MrBeast — real name Jimmy Donaldson — has over 100 million subscribers on his main YouTube channel.
- On the Flagrant podcast, Donaldson said that he received an offer of $1 billion for his content empire.
YouTuber MrBeast — whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson — said he received an offer of $1 billion to take over his content empire, including his main channel which has over 100 million subscribers, but turned it down.
During an appearance on the Flagrant podcast on September 27, co-host Andrew Shulz said he was "shocked" that Donaldson hadn't been offered "the craziest check in history" for his content.
"I have been offered a pretty crazy one," Donaldson said. "There's people, not like official term sheets, but people that would be able to afford it, a billion dollars if they could own the channel and the companies and stuff."
The 24-year-old said he couldn't give any further details of who or where the offer came from but that it was a legitimate offer.
Flagrant's co-hosts asked Donaldson whether he had a price in mind for his channel and associated endeavors if he were to sell in the future.
"It's so crazy I don't even want to say it because it's just where I want to be. If we have a mobile game company and we got 100 million people playing it, and we have a thousand physical Beast Burgers and Feastables in 20,000 stores, it would probably be like $10 billion, $20 billion," he said, referring to his burger restaurant chain and line of chocolates and cookies.
In July, Insider reported that Donaldson planned to hire a programmer to create a "mobile strategy game for iOS and Android."
Donaldson is one of the most popular and highest-paid creators on YouTube, and is known for stunts like turning a backyard into a ball pit, and giving away a million dollars but only giving people one minute to spend it. He's given away everything from an island, to luxury cars, to millions in cash.
But his rise to fame has not been without controversy — last year, a group of former employees told The New York Times Donaldson created a hostile work environment and that his "demeanor changed when the cameras weren't around."
Donaldson launched a delivery-only restaurant brand, MrBeast Burger, in December 2020 and sold over one million sandwiches in three months. In early September 2022, MrBeast Burger opened its first physical restaurant at the American Dream Mall in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Thousands camped out for the opening.
For more stories like this, check out coverage from Insider's Digital Culture team here.