Most of His Income Is Reinvested in Business and Content Production
“It’s Just Company Equity, Not Cash in the Bank”
MrBeast (real name Jimmy Donaldson, age 27), the world’s No.1 YouTuber with 460 million subscribers, recently revealed that he has “almost no cash in his personal bank account,” sparking lively debate among international netizens.
On January 13 (local time), the American business magazine Fortune highlighted MrBeast’s remarks in an article titled “Billionaires Who Don’t Act Rich Despite Their Wealth.” Earlier this month, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), MrBeast stated, “I borrow money to spend. That means I don’t have much of my own money.” He added, “If you exclude the value of my company shares, most people watching this video probably have more money in their bank accounts than I do.” He went on to say, “My company shares won’t buy me a McDonald’s hamburger in the morning.”
MrBeast’s net worth is estimated to be at least 2.6 billion dollars (approximately 3.8 trillion won). He owns more than half of Beast Industries, a company valued at 5 billion dollars. In addition, he simultaneously operates several other businesses, including the multi-million dollar chocolate brand Feastables, the packaged food brand Lunchables, the delivery and takeout brand MrBeast Burger, and the viral video production company MrBeast LLC. His YouTube channel has accumulated a staggering 107 billion views.
Despite all this, MrBeast emphasized, “It’s not like I have bundles of cash in my pocket.” He explained, “When people say, ‘You’re a billionaire!’ I reply, ‘That’s just my net worth.’ Right now, I’m actually in the negative.” He also remarked, “It’s funny to talk about my personal finances. No one believes me no matter what I say.” Fortune explained that the reason MrBeast describes himself as “poor” is because he reinvests most of his income into his businesses and content production.
When the article containing these comments was shared on platforms like Yahoo News’ Facebook page, it sparked intense debate, with more than 2,200 comments posted.
Most of the top-voted comments criticized him for “pretending to be poor.” Others left sarcastic remarks such as, “When he says he can’t afford McDonald’s, he probably means he can’t afford to buy the entire McDonald’s corporation,” “I wish I were as poor as he is,” and “How can someone selling chocolate bars with his name on them not be able to buy a Happy Meal?” Some also pointed out that his statement about “borrowing money to spend” is similar to the typical liquidity management method used by ultra-high-net-worth individuals, who take out loans against their assets to reduce their tax burden.
Meanwhile, Ben Francis, founder and CEO of the 1.5 billion dollar sportswear brand Gymshark, made similar remarks in the past. In a 2023 podcast, he said, “People think there are billions of dollars in an account with my name on it, but that’s not true.” He added, “Since the value of a company can rise or fall, I don’t think anyone should tie their self-worth to their wealth or net assets.”
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