YouTube superstar MrBeast is breaking up with his talent manager
MrBeast Steve Granitz/Getty Images
The 25-year-old creator, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, is taking increasing control over his business and told Texas-based Night that it would “no longer be his primary talent-management agency,” Semafor reported, citing two anonymous sources who were briefed on the matter.
Night had been working with Donaldson since early 2018, when the company’s CEO, Reed Duchscher, began helping Donaldson with his business.
Related stories
“Reed has been with me since early on and has helped us grow to where we are,” Donaldson said in the statement to Bloomberg. “As the company develops and our needs change, he and I continue to have a great relationship. At this point, it makes sense to put full focus into the growth of Feastables and for me to start building my own internal team.”
Night declined to comment to Business Insider. The company told Bloomberg that Duchscher would still work with Donaldson on Feastables.
Night has developed into one of the biggest and most respected talent agencies in the creator space, and has developed a roster of clients, including YouTubers Dream, ZHC, and Safiya Nygaard. It’s opened an early-stage venture-funding arm, a production studio, and a venture arm to help creators build their own companies. In 2023, it acquired another talent firm, LFM, which brought with it Kai Cenat, one of the largest Twitch streamers in the world, and it also bought a podcast network earlier this year.
At the same time, MrBeast’s empire has continued to expand: the YouTuber told Time earlier this year he makes between $600 and $700 million in revenue a year. He’s launched a variety of philanthropic initiatives, as well as a chocolate and snack brand, Feastables, and a virtual restaurant chain, Beast Burger.
The latter has been a source of conflict, and Donaldson has been trying to shut it down. A series of lawsuits were filed in 2023 and are still being litigated. Donaldson filed a suit against Beast Burger’s partner company, Virtual Dining Concepts, alleging it had been serving “low quality,” sometimes “inedible” food. The company responded with another lawsuit claiming that Donaldson and his company, Beast Investments, failed to keep contractual obligations.
Recently, Donaldson inked a partnership with Amazon Prime for a reality TV show. And MrBeast’s main YouTube channel is about to snatch the top spot on the platform for the most subscribed channel in the world, with 256 million subscribers.
In this scenario of immense growth, it would make sense for Donaldson to be looking for a more bespoke approach. Other creators, like popular gaming YouTuber Preston Arsement, did just that with his company TBNR, as did TikTok star Charli D’Amelio.
