Nearly 15 years ago, Jimmy Donaldson uploaded his first video under the moniker MrBeast—a three-minute Minecraft walkthrough. The YouTuber, who made his debut at just 13 years old, has since garnered 522 million subscribers on the platform and grown his net worth to an estimated $2.6 billion thanks to not just his competition-style videos, but also a multimillion-dollar chocolate brand, fast-food burger chain, an Amazon deal, and production company MrBeast LLC.
Donaldson’s astronomical rise to success has become a blueprint for the future of the creator economy, according to Steven Bartlett, an investor and host of The Diary of a CEO podcast. Speaking with Fortune Daily host Ellie Austin, Bartlett explained that Donaldson has transformed his business from monetizing YouTube videos to effectively being a massive conglomerate overseeing a swath of subsidiaries. It’s part of a larger evolution of online celebrities becoming entrepreneurs in their own right.
