Could MrBeast go public? Its CEO wants fans to have “the chance to become owners of the company.”

Is it time for MrBeast to hit the NYSE? Three years ago, the idea of ​​a $1.5 billion YouTuber left some onlookers incredulous — but Beast Industries ended up amassing a $5 billion valuation last year. Now we ask a bigger question: Would you buy shares in a 27-year-old company called Jimmy?

We’ve gotten to the point where even if you don’t have a child under 15, you should know who MrBeast is. North Carolinian Jimmy Donaldson’s MrBeast channel has more than 450 million subscribers on YouTube – more than any other YouTube channel – making him the most successful social media star of all time.

So it made sense when, at the DealBook Summit, reporter Andrew Ross Sorkin asked MrBeast and Jeff Housenbold, CEO of Beast Industries, about going public.

“I imagine you’d like to do an IPO at some point,” Sorkin said.

“At some point, we want to be able to give the 1.4 billion unique people around the world who have watched Jimmy’s content in the last 90 days an opportunity to become owners of the company,” Hausbold answered. It pretty much sounds like a yes, because we can’t imagine another practical way to give ownership stakes to more than a billion people.

Like other major creators, MrBeast’s business is expanding beyond YouTube ad revenue into a company called Beast Industries. Its biggest moneymaker is Feastables chocolate, which is more profitable than the MrBeast YouTube channel and Prime Video show “Beast Games,” according to leaked documents published by Bloomberg.

Housenbold also mentioned that Beast Industries plans to build a dual marketplace for creators and marketers to work together (this idea has been explored by several creator economy startups already). In addition, the company plans to launch a phone company, a financial services platform, and a theme park in Saudi Arabia. Sure, why not!

However, Donaldson’s work had its share of missteps. Beast Industries faces an ongoing lawsuit with ghost kitchen company Virtual Dining Concepts for damaging its brand by selling “inedible” MrBeast Burger food. Virtual Dining Concepts opposed it for allegedly breaching its contract.

Then, after filming the first season of “Beast Games,” five showrunners sued Donaldson and Amazon for mistreatment and sexual harassment during filming. The heavily redacted lawsuit states that the show was filmed in an environment that “systematically promoted a culture of misogyny and sexism.”

In a conversation on DealBook, Donaldson said: “The important thing, obviously, is that I learned why people don’t have 2,000 people competing on the show, because you create a scenario where 1,999 people are unhappy, because they didn’t win… I don’t know how I’m allowed to speak publicly, but obviously, yeah, some people are suing you. I’m sure people here have been sued before because they just want to try to make money.”

“Listen, we’re always learning and getting better,” Hosenbold chimed in. He was interrupted by audience laughter. “Mistakes are part of success, so Season 2 is much better.”

That’s not to say that the mistakes Beast Industries made will prevent it from eventually going public, especially if it overcomes them and can build the management discipline necessary to withstand the scrutiny of being a public company.

Donaldson wouldn’t be the first creator-run company to go public — but he could make the first creator IPO that actually works. Esports team FaZe Clan went public in a $725 million buyout, but was acquired a year later in 2023 for just $17 million. In November, Pinkfong — the company behind YouTube’s most-watched video, “Baby Shark” — went public in Korea.

“Since day one, we’ve been a global media company, and now we’re monetizing the viewership, audience and trust we’ve built,” Hosenbold said.