YouTube sensation MrBeast makes surprising money admission, reveals how much is really in his bank account

Eloise Budimlich
The Nightly
YouTube star MrBeast, aka Jimmy Donaldson.
YouTube star MrBeast, aka Jimmy Donaldson. Credit: Instagram/mrbeast

One of the world’s biggest YouTube stars is claiming he has “negative money” even though his eye-watering net-worth is well into the billions.

Jimmy Donaldson, the man behind YouTube channel turned global brand “MrBeast”, has revealed he owns more than half of his company Beast Industries which is worth roughly $7.4 billion.

This means his own estimated net worth is more than $3.7 billion.

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Despite this whopping sum, Donaldson has claimed that although he has billionaire status, he actually has “negative” money right now.

In an interview with Wall Street Journal Magazine, the 27-year-old said taking about his financial status is “funny” because no one believes what he tells them.

“They’re like ‘you’re a billionaire’, and I am like, that’s net worth. I have negative money right now, I’m borrowing money. That’s how little money I have,” he said.

“Technically everyone watching this video has more money than me, if you subtract the equity value of my company, which doesn’t buy me McDonald’s in the morning.”

Donaldson said he is not focussed on what his bank account looks like.

“I don’t really think about my personal bank account. I am just laser focused on making the greatest videos possible and building the businesses as big as possible,” he said.

In 2025, Donaldson made headlines after revealing he had to borrow money from his mother to pay for his upcoming wedding to Thea Booysen.

After announcing his engagement in earlier 2025, months went by before he made a post on X with the claim.

Replying to a post which claimed he was the only billionaire under 30 to have not inherited his wealth, Donaldson said he actually had a small amount of money.

“I personally have very little money because I reinvest everything (I think this year we’ll spend around a quarter of a billion on content). Ironically I’m actually borrowing $ from my mom to pay for my upcoming wedding lol,” he wrote.

“But sure, on paper the businesses I own are worth a lot.”

Last year, Donaldson also told The Diary of a CEO podcast that he had less than $1 million in his bank account.

“I try to just pay myself for what I spend personally in a month just to stay even,” he told Stephen Bartlett, the podcast’s host.

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