发表于 2025年9月23日
Donaldson is operating at a greater scale than his peers. Beast Industries employs about 450 people, more than 300 of whom make videos. Another 100 work on the chocolate business, Feastables, and dozens work on the snack company, Lunchly LLC, and the software company, Viewstats. Beast generated about $450 million in sales last year, evenly split between the video operation and Feastables. Yes, Donaldson pulls in more than $200 million a year in dark chocolate sea salt bars and peanut butter cups, a business projected to double in size in the next few years, according to pitch documents sent to investors. Feastables vending machines are scattered around the offices, and posters remind employees to incorporate product placements in videos. “We are able to generate the demand,” he says. “I’m not going to act like I knew all this data when I went into it.” The division, which is run out of Chicago, was projected to generate more money this year than the media operation, and it’s the model for newer initiatives that bear Donaldson’s name but don’t require his daily involvement. Beast was valued at $5.2 billion last year in a fundraising round led by Alpha Wave Global LP, an investment firm tied to the United Arab Emirates. He’d like to take the company public in the next few years.
Right now, however, Beast Industries is hemorrhaging money. It’s had three years of losses, including more than $110 million in 2024. The viral videos account for all of it, overwhelming the profits from Feastables. Donaldson has been spending between $3 million and $4 million on every video he produces for the main YouTube channel, most of which lose money. In 2023, Beast spent $10 million to $15 million shooting videos it never released to the public because they weren’t up to its standards. He also lost tens of millions of dollars producing Beast Games, a popular show for Amazon Prime Video in which 1,000 people competed for $10 million by, among other things, moving a 10,000-pound boulder.
Last year he brought on a chief executive officer to help professionalize his operation and reduce costs. Jeff Housenbold, 55, spent three decades in Silicon Valley, working at eBay Inc. and photo printing company Shutterfly Inc. before joining Beast Industries. He’s worked at 22 companies, sat on 44 boards and invested in more than 100 businesses, and he’s not shy about saying he hit pause on a comfortable existence in Northern California with three kids who grew up on MrBeast. In the Beast office, he talks about targeting more than $100 million in savings to turn the company from a high-growth startup into a profitable enterprise that can live for decades. He compares Beast to Uber Technologies Inc. and DoorDash Inc., two companies he invested in and advised. Housenbold “actually built, scaled and ran companies that have done billions in revenue,” Donaldson says. “I’ve never had a leader like that.”
Housenbold pitches MrBeast as the company’s Mickey Mouse and says the goal is to turn Beast Industries into the Walt Disney Co., a diversified entertainment conglomerate. “There’s such a bigger opportunity here than just being a YouTuber,” he says. “Jimmy will always be the cornerstone, but Jimmy doesn’t scale. He already filmed 26, 27, 28 days a month.” Housenbold envisions building out a MrBeast cinematic universe, and he’s put together a writers room that’s sketched out a “world bible”—the backstory. He’s reluctant to share many details but says they’re developing seven or eight characters from a fictional planet that will inspire an animated series, a comic book, a TV show and toys. And though the Disney comparison is flawed, it’s not insane: Every entertainment company wants to be Disney, and none are. But Donaldson has more followers than almost any person or company on Earth, letting him drive fans to whatever he’s selling. He’s even flirting with opening a theme park.
Donaldson is operating at a greater scale than his peers. Beast Industries employs about 450 people, more than 300 of whom make videos. Another 100 work on the chocolate business, Feastables, and dozens work on the snack company, Lunchly LLC, and the software company, Viewstats. Beast generated about $450 million in sales last year, evenly split between the video operation and Feastables. Yes, Donaldson pulls in more than $200 million a year in dark chocolate sea salt bars and peanut butter cups, a business projected to double in size in the next few years, according to pitch documents sent to investors. Feastables vending machines are scattered around the offices, and posters remind employees to incorporate product placements in videos. “We are able to generate the demand,” he says. “I’m not going to act like I knew all this data when I went into it.” The division, which is run out of Chicago, was projected to generate more money this year than the media operation, and it’s the model for newer initiatives that bear Donaldson’s name but don’t require his daily involvement. Beast was valued at $5.2 billion last year in a fundraising round led by Alpha Wave Global LP, an investment firm tied to the United Arab Emirates. He’d like to take the company public in the next few years.
与同行相比，Donaldson 的运营规模更大。Beast Industries 约有450名员工，其中300多人从事视频制作；另有100人负责巧克力品牌 Feastables，几十人就职于零食公司 Lunchly LLC 和软件公司 Viewstats。Beast 去年实现约4.5亿美元销售额，视频业务与 Feastables 各占一半。没错，Donaldson 每年仅靠黑巧克力海盐棒和花生酱杯等产品就进账超过2亿美元；据发给投资者的融资材料，这项业务在未来几年有望规模翻番。办公室里摆满了 Feastables 自动售货机，墙上的海报也提醒员工在视频里做产品植入广告。他说：“我们有能力创造需求。可我不会假装一开始就掌握了所有这些数据。”该板块（Feastables）由芝加哥团队运营，今年预计营收将超过媒体业务，并成为以后那些挂 Donaldson 名字、但不需他每天亲自参与的新项目的样板。去年，Beast 在一轮由与阿联酋有关联的投资公司 Alpha Wave Global LP 领投的融资中估值达52亿美元。他希望在未来几年把公司推向公开上市。
Right now, however, Beast Industries is hemorrhaging money. It’s had three years of losses, including more than $110 million in 2024. The viral videos account for all of it, overwhelming the profits from Feastables. Donaldson has been spending between $3 million and $4 million on every video he produces for the main YouTube channel, most of which lose money. In 2023, Beast spent $10 million to $15 million shooting videos it never released to the public because they weren’t up to its standards. He also lost tens of millions of dollars producing Beast Games, a popular show for Amazon Prime Video in which 1,000 people competed for $10 million by, among other things, moving a 10,000-pound boulder.
不过眼下，Beast Industries 正在大量亏损。其业绩已连续三年为负，仅在 2024 年就亏损超过 1.1 亿美元。亏损全部来自那些爆红视频，已经压过了 Feastables（旗下巧克力品牌）的利润。Donaldson 在主 YouTube 频道的每支视频投入 300 万至 400 万美元，其中大多数都亏钱。2023 年，Beast 为拍摄一些最终因达不到内部标准而未对外发布的视频花了 1000 万至 1500 万美元。他在制作《Beast Games》上也亏了数千万美元。这是一档在 Amazon Prime Video 上很火的节目，1,000 名参赛者为 1,000 万美元奖金而角逐，其中一项挑战包括搬动一块重达 10,000 磅（约 4.5 吨）的巨石。
Last year he brought on a chief executive officer to help professionalize his operation and reduce costs. Jeff Housenbold, 55, spent three decades in Silicon Valley, working at eBay Inc. and photo printing company Shutterfly Inc. before joining Beast Industries. He’s worked at 22 companies, sat on 44 boards and invested in more than 100 businesses, and he’s not shy about saying he hit pause on a comfortable existence in Northern California with three kids who grew up on MrBeast. In the Beast office, he talks about targeting more than $100 million in savings to turn the company from a high-growth startup into a profitable enterprise that can live for decades. He compares Beast to Uber Technologies Inc. and DoorDash Inc., two companies he invested in and advised. Housenbold “actually built, scaled and ran companies that have done billions in revenue,” Donaldson says. “I’ve never had a leader like that.”
去年，他引进了一位首席执行官，帮助业务更专业化并降低成本。这位首席执行官是 55 岁的 Jeff Housenbold。在加入 Beast Industries 之前，他在硅谷工作了三十年，先后就职于 eBay Inc. 和照片打印公司 Shutterfly Inc.。他曾在 22 家公司任职，担任过 44 家公司的董事会成员，并投资了 100 多家企业。他也坦言，自己按下了在北加州的安稳生活“暂停键”——他的三个孩子都是看着 MrBeast 长大的。在 Beast 的办公室里，他提出要实现逾 1 亿美元的成本节省，把公司从高速成长的初创企业，转变为能够持续盈利、存续数十年的企业。他把 Beast 拿来与 Uber Technologies Inc. 和 DoorDash Inc. 类比——这两家公司他都投过资并提供过咨询建议。Donaldson 说，Housenbold“确实从零搭建、扩张并运营过年营收达数十亿美元的公司。我从未有过这样的领导者。”
Housenbold pitches MrBeast as the company’s Mickey Mouse and says the goal is to turn Beast Industries into the Walt Disney Co., a diversified entertainment conglomerate. “There’s such a bigger opportunity here than just being a YouTuber,” he says. “Jimmy will always be the cornerstone, but Jimmy doesn’t scale. He already filmed 26, 27, 28 days a month.” Housenbold envisions building out a MrBeast cinematic universe, and he’s put together a writers room that’s sketched out a “world bible”—the backstory. He’s reluctant to share many details but says they’re developing seven or eight characters from a fictional planet that will inspire an animated series, a comic book, a TV show and toys. And though the Disney comparison is flawed, it’s not insane: Every entertainment company wants to be Disney, and none are. But Donaldson has more followers than almost any person or company on Earth, letting him drive fans to whatever he’s selling. He’s even flirting with opening a theme park.
Housenbold把MrBeast定位为公司里的“Mickey Mouse”，并表示目标是把Beast Industries打造成Walt Disney Co.那样的多元化娱乐集团。他说：“这里的机会远远不止做一个YouTuber。Jimmy永远是基石，但Jimmy无法规模化。他一个月已经拍了26、27、28天。” Housenbold设想打造一个MrBeast“电影宇宙”，并组建了编剧室，勾勒出一份“world bible”（世界观设定手册，即背景故事）。他不愿透露太多细节，只说他们正在开发来自一个虚构星球的七八个角色，这些角色将启发出动画剧集、漫画、电视节目和玩具。尽管把它比作Disney并不完全贴切，但也谈不上离谱：每一家娱乐公司都想成为Disney，但没有一家真正做到了。不过，Donaldson的粉丝数量几乎超过地球上任何个人或公司，这让他能把流量导向他卖的任何东西。他甚至在试探性考虑开一座主题乐园。