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Tribune News Service

Jimmy Donaldson has compiled quite the resume since he began making videos as a teenager in his Greenville, North Carolina, bedroom. The world’s most popular YouTube channel. A successful snack line. A new Amazon reality competition that (despite mixed critical reviews) has been watched more than 50 million times in the past month.
A content empire built on his nickname and brand, MrBeast.
Could owning TikTok be next?
On Monday, the 26-year-old Donaldson wrote on X, “OK fine, I’ll buy TikTok so it doesn’t get banned.” It received 37 million views. The following day, he added “Unironically I’ve had so many billionaires reach out to me since I tweeted this, let’s see if we can pull this off.”
Then on Wednesday, MrBeast upped his effort to purchase the imperilled short-form video platform. “We just got out of a meeting with a bunch of billionaires,” he began.
“TikTok, we mean business. This is my lawyer right here. We have an offer ready for you. We want to buy the platform. America deserves TikTok. Give me a seat at the table. Let me save this platform.”
The platform is in need of saving in the United States, where around 170 million people have TikTok accounts. On Friday, the US Supreme Court upheld a federal law that will ban the platform on January 19 unless TikTok’s China-based owner ByteDance divests its US operations.
TikTok’s lawyers had told the justices the app would “go dark” on Sunday if the law was upheld.
Passed with bipartisan support, the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act aims to prevent the Chinese government from accessing US user data or manipulating what Americans see through TikTok.
The app is a relative newcomer compared to other social media giants like YouTube, Facebook and Instagram. But it’s popularity in recent years, especially among young users and entrepreneurs, has many hoping for a last-minute buyer.


Purchasing TikTok outright would likely cost between US$100 billion and US$200 billion, Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said. But excluding TikTok’s algorithm, the price tag would be closer to US$45 billion, Ives said. TikTok has claimed it’s not feasible to disentangle the app commercially and technologically.
As the ban approaches, several prominent names have emerged as potential US buyers. Billionaire investor Frank McCourt has made a bid, partnering with Canadian investor and regular Shark Tank judge Kevin O’Leary. Last year, The Wall Street Journal reported former Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick indicated interest in purchasing TikTok to a ByteDance co-founder.
Online estimates peg Donaldson’s net worth to be between US$500 million and US$1 billion. But few others have the social media cachet of MrBeast. In June, his YouTube account became the most followed channel on the site, and it now has 344 million subscribers.
Donaldson moved to the eastern North Carolina city of Greenville as a child, attending private school and playing sports. But the way he tells it, making YouTube videos was his daily obsession. Under the name MrBeast, Donaldson first went viral in 2017 when he sat at his bedroom computer and methodically counted to 100,000 over the course of 40 hours.
His early videos featured unique feats of discomfort and lucrative on-the-street giveaways. As his budgets grew, Donaldson became more ambitious. MrBeast now operates out of a US$14 million studio north of downtown Greenville, where he and his crew film larger competitions.
The biggest contest to date, however, was held in Las Vegas. This winter, Amazon Prime Video has been releasing Beast Games, a 10-episode reality series with 1,000 contestants vying for a US$5 million grand prize. It reportedly cost US$100 million to produce.
The Guardian called the early episodes “one of the most undignified spectacles ever shown on TV,” while The Telegraph similarly called the show a “deafening, joyless cash-dash”.
But audiences appear to be enjoying the spectacle. With 50 million views, it is Amazon’s most streamed unscripted show ever.


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United States

‘America deserves TikTok’: YouTuber MrBeast bids for app after meeting ‘bunch of billionaires’

YouTuber Jimmy Donaldson, popularly known as MrBeast, has stepped up his effort to buy TikTok. Photo: AFP via Getty Images/TNS

How a TikTok ban in the US would work – and why user workarounds won’t

A person holds a TikTok sign in New York City’s Washington Square Park on January 14.TikTok could face a ban on January 19 due to a law requiring the platform to sever ties with its China-based parent company ByteDance, or cease its US operations.  Photo: AFP

Supporters of Tiktok livestream in front of the US Supreme Court in Washington DC on January 10. Photo: AFP

The ByteDance office, parent company of TikTok, in San Jose, California. The ban results from an April law signed by President Joe Biden and is the first time the US has attempted to shut down access to an app with such a large user base. Photo: EPA-EFE

TikTok sell-or-ban law is upheld by US Supreme Court

The US Supreme Court has ruled that a law forcing the sale or ban of TikTok is constitutional. Photo  illustration: Reuters 

News

World

United States & Canada

Influencer Jimmy Donaldson, popularly known as MrBeast, says he has an ‘offer ready to save the platform’


Influencer Jimmy Donaldson, popularly known as MrBeast, says he has an ‘offer ready to save the platform’.
