by Lucas Shaw
YouTube star MrBeast is looking to raise a couple hundred million dollars to expand his business in a funding round that would value his company at about $5 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.
The most popular creator on YouTube has spoken with several financial firms and wealthy individuals about investing, said the people, who declined to be identified because the talks are confidential. Talks are still in their early stages and it’s not yet clear who will invest or if they will do so at the target price.
The online star, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, is raising money to fund a holding company that owns all or part of several businesses, including the chocolates brand Feastables, the snack company Lunchly and his video production company. The business is profitable and generated more than $400 million in sales last year, said two of the people. He is looking to expand both his packaged goods and media businesses.
MrBeast is best known for his work on YouTube, where he posts videos of large-scale challenges and giveaways that generate hundreds of millions of views. Creators share in the advertising sales that their videos generate.
He also created and starred in a show for Amazon.com Inc.’s Prime Video, which the company said was its most-watched unscripted series ever. While Amazon committed $100 million to produce the first season, MrBeast said that he lost money on production of the show by spending too much on it. “I lost tens of millions of dollars on Beast Games,” he said on the Diary of a CEO podcast. “But it’s about making Season 1 as good as possible.”
Amazon has agreed to make more seasons of the show, but is still working out the budget. The original deal called for Amazon to spend more than $250 million across two additional seasons.
MrBeast has raised money in the past, including from the New York-based investment firm Alpha Wave Global. Bloomberg News reported last month that Donaldson was participating in a bid to buy TikTok. Feastables, the snacks company he started a few years ago, sells chocolate bars across the US and Canada. MrBeast Burger, a food delivery business, has been entangled in litigation with Donaldson’s partner.
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