Jimmy Donaldson, aka MrBeast speaks during the 2026 TIME100 Summit. Getty Images for TIME Yet another dispute is brewing between Jimmy Donaldson — aka MrBeast — and a clutch of his investors.
This time the issues center on Feastables, Donaldson’s chocolate and snack brand which is part of his holding company, Beast Industries, valued at close to $5 billion.
A handful of Feastable investors have grown fed up with how the YouTube sensation has allegedly handled the brand, which launched in 2022.
Page Six Hollywood has learned that the irate backers are lawyering up, and appear ready to issue a legal challenge over what sources deem to be Donaldson’s alleged contract breaches. These purported breaches center on a range of issues including the use and exclusivity of his image and likeness.
MrBeast eats the worlds largest pizza slice. Youtube/ Mr Beast The snack brand, which launched with a Willy Wonka style promotional event — complete with a real-life chocolate factory and a handful of “golden tickets” — got off to a promising start generating around $250 million in revenue in 2024.
Leaked investor material once forecasted that the brand could pull in $500 million in 2025, although a source familiar with the financials says revenue has since dropped.
A source close to Donaldson pushed back on the notion of any wrongdoing, blaming the dispute on a changeover of representation that occurred a couple of years ago.
“Jimmy didn’t make these deals, his previous managers did and it is pretty rich that it’s coming up right now,” said the source. The source didn’t dispute that the brand has been challenged, but said that hiring Jeff Housenbold in 2024 as president and CEO of Beast Industries and Damien Atkins as chief legal officer has helped boost the company. They’ve also brought in Michelle St. Jacques, the former Molson Coors chief commercial officer, as president of Feastables. “The problems they’ve had were things that came from the people who were there before,” said an insider.
The 28-year-old YouTube showman is already embroiled in a years-long legal feud with his former partner, restaurateur Robert Earl and his Virtual Dining Concepts, over the 2020 launch of MrBeast Burger.
MrBeast’s Feastable candy bar. Gado via Getty Images Two years after launch, Donaldson moved to shut down the chain and filed a lawsuit against VDC to terminate their partnership, alleging that the dining firm’s rapid expansion of the brand came at the expense of quality control, resulting in a “revolting” customer experience, according to court documents filed in New York state court.
VDC then countersued for over $100 million, alleging breach of contract and intentional tortious interference. The dispute is ongoing.
Donaldson is also facing a class action lawsuit from participants of Season 1 of “Beast Games” — the reality competition series that aired on Amazon Prime Video. According to court filings in California state court, the plaintiffs in that case allege that their expenses and wages went unpaid, that they lacked medical care and adequate food during production, and that some were sexually harassed.
A rep for Beast said at the time of those allegations: “The MrBeast promotional video shoot, which included over 2,000 participants, was unfortunately complicated by the CrowdStrike incident, extreme weather, and other unexpected logistical and communications issues, which we are currently reviewing, but we are grateful that virtually all of those invited to Toronto for our next production have enthusiastically accepted our invitation.” The show has gone on for two more seasons.
Donaldson, meanwhile, is raising hundreds of millions for Beast Industries in addition to the $680 million he’s already raised from a mix of individual investors, family funds and sovereign backed funds and crypto funds.
Donaldson has a slate of ventures in the works, including a wireless carrier and a banking product aimed at children which has already drawn the ire of Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
Donaldson recently made history by becoming the first individual content creator to surpass 500 million subscribers on YouTube.
The YouTube pioneer is worth a reported $2.6 billion and has a $100 million contract with Amazon alone.
He also has hundreds of employees, and for years has had a reputation for accumulating huge profits — and huge losses — partially on account of the extremely elaborate setups for his videos. (He lost a reported $110 million in 2024).
But the YouTube whiz also said that despite the big business numbers, he’s personally broke. He famously has told The Wall Street Journal: “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.”
He brought in Housenbold in 2024 to help steady the company’s finances. Housenbold has said that he wants to model Beast Industries on the Walt Disney Company telling Bloomberg “There’s such a bigger opportunity here than just being a YouTuber.”
