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Fortune
Fortune
Preston Fore

MrBeast’s $5 billion empire runs on generosity—but at a cost

Jimmy Donaldson taking a selfie (Credit: Roy Rochlin—Getty Images for MTV)

Can you count to 100,000?

Most would probably lose steam before they even got to 100. But for Jimmy Donaldson, better known as MrBeast, that was the whole point. The seemingly impossible stunt was the subject of one of the then 18-year-old’s first-ever YouTube videos.

Little did he know the domino effect such videos would set off. Now 27, Donaldson sits atop an online content empire: With 435 million YouTube subscribers and over 95 billion lifetime views, he’s among the internet’s biggest stars worldwide. His accomplishments reach far beyond viral videos: They include a nine-figure Amazon TV deal, a multimillion-dollar snack company, and even a forthcoming novel coauthored with James Patterson.

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