James Stephen Donaldson (born May 7, 1998), better known as MrBeast, is an American YouTuber and philanthropist. He is credited with pioneering a genre of YouTube videos that centers on expensive stunts and challenges. With over 166 million subscribers as of July 2023, he is the most-subscribed individual user on the platform and the second-most-subscribed channel overall.

Donaldson grew up in a middle-class household in Greenville, North Carolina. He began posting videos to YouTube in early 2012, at the age of 13, under the handle MrBeast6000. His early content ranged from Let's Plays to "videos estimating the wealth of other YouTubers". He went viral in 2017 after his "counting to 100,000" video earned tens of thousands of views in just a few days, and he has become increasingly popular ever since, with most of his videos gaining tens of millions of views. Over time, his style of content diversified to include challenge and donation videos that reward thousands of dollars, videos with arduous tasks or survival challenges, and original vlogs. Once his channel took off, Donaldson hired some of his childhood friends to co-run the brand. As of 2022, the MrBeast team is made up of 30 people, including Donaldson himself. Other than MrBeast, Donaldson runs the YouTube channels Beast Reacts, MrBeast Gaming, MrBeast 2 (formerly MrBeast Shorts), and the philanthropy channel Beast Philanthropy. He formerly ran MrBeast 3 (initially MrBeast 2), which is now inactive. He was one of the 10 highest-paid YouTubers of 2020, having an estimated net worth of $500 million.

Donaldson is the founder of MrBeast Burger and Feastables, and a co-creator of Team Trees, a fundraiser for the Arbor Day Foundation that has raised over $23 million, and Team Seas, a fundraiser for Ocean Conservancy and The Ocean Cleanup that has raised over $30 million. Donaldson won the Creator of the Year award three times at the Streamy Awards in 2020, 2021, and 2022; he also won the Favorite Male Creator award twice at the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards in 2022 and 2023. That same year, Time magazine named him as one of the world's 100 most influential people.

James Stephen Donaldson was born on May 7, 1998 in Wichita, Kansas. He was mainly raised in a middle-class household in Greenville, North Carolina. He moved often and was under the care of au pairs due to his parents working long hours and serving in the military. His parents divorced in 2007. In 2016, Donaldson graduated from Greenville Christian Academy, a small private evangelical Christian high school in the area. Donaldson has publicly mentioned being diagnosed with Crohn's disease during high school. He briefly attended East Carolina University before dropping out.

Early viral attempts (2012–2017)
Donaldson uploaded his first YouTube video in February 2012, at the age of 13, under the name of "MrBeast6000". His early content ranged from Let's Plays, mainly focused on Minecraft and Call of Duty: Black Ops II, videos estimating the wealth of other YouTubers, videos that offered tips to upcoming YouTube creators, and commentary on YouTube drama. Donaldson appeared infrequently in these videos.

In 2015 and 2016, Donaldson began to gain popularity with his "Worst intros on YouTube" series poking fun at YouTube video introductions. By mid-2016, Donaldson had around 30,000 subscribers. In fall 2016, Donaldson dropped out of East Carolina University to pursue a full-time career as a YouTuber. His mother did not approve of this and made him move out of the family home.

As his channel grew, Donaldson hired four childhood friends – Chris Tyson, Chandler Hallow, Garrett Ronalds, and Jake Franklin – to contribute to his channel. They then contacted numerous YouTubers in order to obtain statistics of their successful videos and predict the platform's recommendation system. Franklin left the crew in 2020. Afterwards, Karl Jacobs, previously a cameraman, was promoted to take his place.

Early viral attempts (2012–2017)
Donaldson uploaded his first YouTube video in February 2012, at the age of 13, under the name of "MrBeast6000". His early content ranged from Let's Plays, mainly focused on Minecraft and Call of Duty: Black Ops II, videos estimating the wealth of other YouTubers, videos that offered tips to upcoming YouTube creators, and commentary on YouTube drama. Donaldson appeared infrequently in these videos.

In 2015 and 2016, Donaldson began to gain popularity with his "Worst intros on YouTube" series poking fun at YouTube video introductions. By mid-2016, Donaldson had around 30,000 subscribers. In fall 2016, Donaldson dropped out of East Carolina University to pursue a full-time career as a YouTuber. His mother did not approve of this and made him move out of the family home.

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