Jimmy Donaldson, higher often known as MrBeast, has spent the previous decade climbing to the highest of on-line content material. Now one of the in style creators on the planet, he boasts a report 476 million subscribers on YouTube alone—fueled by more and more excessive stunts, from spending a week living in a cave to even being buried in a coffin.
But constructing one of many largest multibillion-dollar leisure companies born out of social media has taken a toll on his time.
“I live to work and 100% do not have a healthy work-life balance,” Donaldson wrote on X, after a docuseries titled How MrBeast Works 18 Hours per Day was launched and individuals commented on his lack of balance.
“It was a miracle if a day was less than 15 hours for me,” Donaldson stated within the docuseries, including that his schedule is “literally planned down to the minute.”
At the identical time he was filming the second installment of his Amazon Prime competitors sequence, Beast Games, Donaldson additionally maintained common manufacturing of his high-budget YouTube movies, which usually rack up extra than 100 million views. And he pointed to video thumbnails for example of the operation’s precision: Donaldson employs a physique double to assist stage and take a look at ideas, permitting him to step in briefly for the ultimate shot earlier than transferring on to the subsequent job.
“Everything has to be perfect because I don’t have much time,” he stated.
MrBeast is planning to construct a media empire rivaling Disney—and he’s rising his crew by 50% this 12 months alone
While not day-after-day could also be as relentless for Donaldson because the one filming Beast Games, his tempo displays a broader ambition: He isn’t simply making movies—he’s constructing an leisure empire below Beast Industries, one he has stated he hopes will someday rival Disney. That enlargement now stretches past content material into areas like financial services and telecom, additional rising calls for on his time.
To assist that development, Beast Industries is quickly scaling. CEO Jeff Housenbold, a veteran of Silicon Valley who joined the corporate in 2024, said this week the corporate plans to broaden its workforce by 50% together with roles in New York, Los Angeles, and its Greenville, N.C., headquarters—Donaldson’s hometown. Hiring is targeted on areas together with advertising and marketing, engineering, and shopper merchandise.
One job posting, to be a recruiter in New York, for instance, is marketed with a whole compensation package deal of between $130,000 and $160,000, plus fairness. The firm additionally presents relocation assist, together with company-provided housing for the primary 90 days, and notably doesn’t require school levels for many roles.
But regardless of constructing what’s been valued as a $5 billion enterprise, Donaldson has stated that hasn’t translated into private liquidity.
“I have negative money right now; I’m borrowing money. That’s how little money I have,” Donaldson informed the Wall Street Journal in a video launched earlier this 12 months. “Technically, everyone watching this video has more money than me in their bank account if you subtract the equity value of my company, which doesn’t buy me McDonald’s in the morning.”
That tradeoff underscores how deeply Donaldson continues to reinvest in his enterprise—each financially and with his time.
“I wake up, I just work … I’m just so busy working I don’t really think about my personal bank account,” Donaldson added. “I’m just laser-focused on making the greatest videos as possible, and building the business as big as possible.”
Donaldson’s crew declined Fortune’s request for remark.
Work-life balance is a tradeoff, in accordance to many prime enterprise leaders
Donaldson is removed from alone in suggesting that success on the highest ranges can require an all-consuming dedication to work. Countless enterprise leaders have spoken about periods of intense sacrifice in their careers.
Mark Cuban is a prime instance. He stated that work-life balance isn’t practical for these chasing outsize success.
“There is no balance,” Cuban stated on The Playbook, a sequence from Sports Illustrated. “If you want to work nine-to-five, you can have work-life balance. If you want to crush the game, whatever game you’re in, there’s somebody working 24 hours a day to kick your ass.”
But others argue that the strategy isn’t all the time sustainable. Netflix cofounder Marc Randolph, for instance, stated all through his profession, he made it a precedence to balance work with life.
“For over 30 years, I had a hard cutoff on Tuesdays. Rain or shine, I left at exactly 5 p.m. and spent the evening with my best friend,” he wrote in a 2023 LinkedIn publish that has recirculated on social media. “We would go to a movie, have dinner, or just go window-shopping downtown together.”
Even JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon—identified for his high standards and return-to-office push—has emphasised the significance of balance. Speaking to college students at Georgetown University in 2024, he stated: “What we tell our people at JPMorgan is you have to take care of your mind, your body, your spirit, your soul, your friends, your health. You really have to.”
