MrBeast CEO and ‘Beast Games’ winner rally brand partners and rare disease support on Wall Street

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NEW YORK (AP) — MrBeast’s new CEO hit Wall Street Wednesday as YouTuber Jimmy Donaldson’s media empire looks to develop long-term brand partnerships and, in turn, unlock more funding for its charitable content.

Venture capitalist Jeff Housenbold took over MrBeast leadership last summer with a mandate to professionalize an ever-growing entertainment company. YouTube’s most popular creator had reached record audience levels far outpacing its startup days, while vowing to reassess its internal culture amid multiple controversies. But, despite joining Nasdaq’s closing bell ceremony on Wednesday, Housenbold said their strategic plan does not currently include a public offering — or any active funding rounds.

“Do I want to make banger content? Yeah. That’s cool,” Housenbold told The Associated Press. “But what can we do with that banger content? Generate profits, make a sustainable business that gives us greater ability to impact people’s lives around the world.”

“We’re marching quickly to profitability, so we don’t have to raise additional capital,” he added.

Instead, MrBeast is focused on securing multi-year exclusive advertising deals as opposed to single-video brand partnerships. With 416 million subscribers and legions of impressionable young fans, Housenbold argued that MrBeast is uniquely positioned to deliver more bang for companies’ marketing bucks by pointing that “firehose of attention” at them.

Along the way, Housenbold said he is encouraging Donaldson to tout the channel’s charitable works — which often feature quantifiable stunts such as building wells, removing ocean plastic or covering cataract surgery costs. The company, in his view, “can do good while doing well.”

“The more people who like us ’cause we do good, the more people watch our videos,” he said. “The more people watch our videos, the more we’re able to drive in fees from our advertising partners… the more we can invest in more content to do more good in the world.”

New projects such as the Amazon Prime reality show and a James Patterson novel from HarperCollins aim to diversify the genders and ages of his audience. Housenbold said that base has historically consisted mostly of 8-to-25-year-olds and men.

But Housenbold acknowledged missteps in last year’s production of “Beast Games,” which prompted allegations of “unsafe” conditions from some contestants who said an unorganized set led to injuries, irregular food provision and lacking access to medication. While describing most of those reports as “inaccurate,” Housenbold said they were “better prepared” for the second season’s recently wrapped shoot.

“Building sets for a 10-episode show is different than a 22-minute YouTube video,” he said. “The scale, the size, the sophistication, the safety, the security, the cost effectiveness of doing that. We didn’t staff up enough for ‘Beast Games’.”

Ringing Nasdaq’s closing bell Wednesday with Housenbold was the winner of the $10 million grand prize awarded in that inaugural “Beast Games” season.

Jeffrey Allen, the father of a child with creatine transporter deficiency, has promised to put some of his winnings toward existing treatments and research for a cure to the rare genetic disorder. He said the Association for Creatine Deficiencies, where he is a board member, added 1,000 new donors in the weeks following the final “Beast Games” episodes’ release.

He hopes Wednesday’s visit will draw more attention and money to all rare diseases.

“This is where companies that are bringing true change to the marketplace come to listen to other companies,” Allen said. “So, there’s no better place for a budding rare disease nonprofit to come and show, ‘Hey we’re trying to change the world, too.’”

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