MrBeast is a YouTube megastar. Can he make it in business?
Even creators with hundreds of millions of followers can find their names mean little to older audiences, hampering their chances of building a brand outside social media.
One of the most popular YouTubers in the world is a tall, rather awkward 25-year-old from North Carolina called Jimmy Donaldson, better known to his fans as MrBeast. He has more online followers than Elon Musk, makes millions of dollars in ad revenue and wants to turn his devoted subscriber base into a business. But swapping virtual fame for the real world is tricky.
If you didn’t spend your teenage years glued to YouTube, Donaldson’s success may come as a surprise. The videos he makes are reminiscent of MTV’s Jackass: there is a lot of shouting and elaborate stunts. Escapades include squashing a sports car in a hydraulic press and running a train into a brick wall.
