As a result, Donaldson says he is having to ask his mom for a loan to cover the cost of his upcoming wedding.

Donaldson has risen to fame not only thanks to his often wild videos (recent uploads include “I built Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory” and “7 days stranded at sea”) but also his philanthropic efforts.

The social media star has shared videos in which he adopted an orphanage in South Africa and funded a gym in Texas that trains adaptive athletes.

But it seems by investing his money—be it into his business, into his philanthropic efforts, or for his long-term financial benefit—Donaldson hasn’t got huge sums left in the bank.

Responding to a post on X which described Donaldson as “the only billionaire under 30 to have not inherited his wealth,” MrBeast responded: “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 added: “But sure, on paper the businesses I own are worth a lot.”

Donaldson proposed to his girlfriend, author Thea Booysen, on Christmas Day 2024.

The eye-watering costs of MrBeast’s videos—which have won him 400 million subscribers on YouTube alone—were made clear when Elon Musk pitched him a move to a different platform.

The X owner tried to tempt Donaldson to shift his content from the Google-owned video site to his platform, formerly known as Twitter.

But MrBeast pushed back that the monetization of content on X didn’t come close to that of its rival, telling Musk: “My videos cost millions to make and even if they got a billion views on X it wouldn’t fund a fraction of it :/ I’m down though to test stuff once monetization is really cranking!”

And test the site he did. A matter of weeks after the exchange with Musk, Donaldson returned with the receipts of his earnings having posted a car comparison video on X. The earnings came to $263,655—lower than the “millions” the creator said he required to finance the videos.

And he added a further caveat: “Advertisers saw the attention it was getting and bought ads on my video (I think) and thus my revenue per view is prob higher than what you’d experience.”

“Told I’d never make it”

For millions of Donaldson’s young fans, content creation might seem like the perfect way to earn vast amounts of money in a fun way.

But Donaldson—estimated to now be worth $1 billion per Celebrity Net Worth courtesy of a handful of businesses and a deal with tech giant Amazon—has warned his career path isn’t for the faint-hearted.

“It’s painful to see people quit their job/drop out of school to make content full time before they’re ready,” Donaldson wrote on X in March last year. “For every person like me that makes it, thousands don’t. Keep that in mind and be smart plz.”

Content creation is increasingly being seen as an attractive and lucrative career path by youngsters, with a 2019 survey of 3,000 children finding that almost a third of the respondents wanted to be a vlogger or YouTuber. This was the most popular career choice in the U.S. and the U.K., coming in ahead of roles such as athlete, musician and astronaut.

Donaldson, who primarily lives in his studio and says his mother controls his bank account, is perhaps not living the glamorous lifestyle some of his other online contemporaries are.

And over the weekend MrBeast issued a reminder to his fans about why he wanted to get into content creation, writing on X: “A decade ago before I blew up everyone in my life told me I was too obsessed and constantly told I’d never make it. Despite that I was in love with making content and grinded every moment my eyes were open for 7 years before anyone started watching.

“I literally told my mom I’d rather be homeless than do anything else.”

Celebrating hitting 400 million subscribers on YouTube, he added: “The greatest gift in life is being able to wake up everyday with a purpose and thanks to YouTube and you guys, I have that.”