You know, when people talk about young billionaires, they often forget about the guys who built an empire from scratch through the internet. Jimmy Donaldson, known as MrBeast, has been holding the title of the highest-paid YouTuber on the planet for several years in a row. And we're not just talking about big numbers — how much money MrBeast has is a whole separate story.

In 2021, the guy earned about $54 million just from video content, and Forbes predicted his income would grow to $110 million in 2022. Journalists estimated his total net worth at $500 million, and that was a few years ago. Moreover, in 2022, Donaldson actively sought investors for his content studio — if the deal had gone through, the value of his main asset could have reached up to $1.5 billion. Interestingly, he simply talks about this: “The chances of becoming a billionaire increase if you don’t set that as a goal. You just need to focus on making your company awesome.”

To understand how he got there, you need to look at his portfolio. First, there’s the content studio in Greenville, where Donaldson himself grew up. It’s not just one channel, but a whole network of projects: the main MrBeast with 142 million subscribers, Beast Gaming with 32 million, Beast Reacts with 22.5 million, and several smaller channels. The studio employs about 50 people — scriptwriters, editors, assistants. By the way, many of them are friends and family members who have been discussing plans to conquer YouTube with him from the very beginning.

But content is content, and where you can really see how much money MrBeast has and how he invests it is in his business projects outside of YouTube. Take MrBeast Burger, for example. In December 2020, he opened the first location in Greenville with free food, and on the very first day, the car line stretched over 30 kilometers. Then he came up with a brilliant scheme — virtual restaurants. Orders go through an app, and food is prepared in partner cafes. Within three months of launch, over a million burgers were sold. Now the network has expanded to 300 locations in the US and a few more in other countries. In August 2022, they even opened the first full offline restaurant.

Then came Feastables — a line of snacks with chocolate and cookies. Sold online and in Walmart. The launch in January 2022 was like a Hollywood premiere — prize giveaways, a contest for golden tickets in chocolates, a finale with Gordon Ramsay as a judge. In the first few months, Feastables earned more than $10 million on snacks. This shows that how much money MrBeast has isn’t just income from videos — it’s a diversified business.

What’s impressive is that the guy has built his system so successfully that he was even invited to give lectures at Harvard Business School. His approach is simple but effective: don’t chase the status of a billionaire, just build an awesome company that provides real value. And it seems this works much better than all the advice from business books.