MrBeast HUMILIATED Himself & Is Bleeding Millions
PDS Published 08/27/2025
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Are we starting to see the start of Mr. Beast’s villain arc?
Yesterday, he crashed out because a smaller creator ranked higher on Rolling Stones’ most influential creator list.
That look was bad enough, but when it rains it pours because around the same time it was revealed that his company is grossly unprofitable.
I mean like, losing-over-one-hundred-million-a-year-unprofitable.
Starting with Rolling Stones, the list features a wide variety of “influential” creators that produce essentially every type of content you can imagine.
But obviously with a title like “most influential creators” it begs the question: what’s the criteria?
According to them, “For this list, we defined it as someone born from the internet — not a celebrity who jumped on after gaining fame in a more traditional way — who uses their chosen platforms to push conversations forward.”
So a super vague definition that gives them a lot of leeway, which is probably why we saw names like Dave Portnoy, Ironmouse, Hasan Piker, Ms. Rachel, IShowSpeed and many, many others.
And to be clear, Mr. Beast was among them at number 7 which prompted him to write in a now-deleted tweet:
“According to this list a guy with 1 million followers is more influential than me. What did I do to piss off The Rolling Stones.”
That “guy with 1 million followers” is Caleb Hearon, who responded to the tweet on Instagram with a post that showed the tweet and a caption of:
“Thank you Rolling Stone, it’s been an honor.”
Elsewhere online we saw a lot of people pointing out that Mr. Beast apparently didn’t know that Rolling Stone is the magazine and The Rolling Stones is the band.
One reaction that got a lot of traction was Hasan Piker’s, who was shocked at Mr. Beast’s reaction after seeing Caleb’s Instagram post:
“Okay dude, there’s no way Mr. Beast posted that. That’s so funny. No. Mr. Beast didn’t actually post that chatters, clam down. It’s… Caleb is making a joke.”
“OH HE DID?! Oh my god he did. Oh my god. Are you fucking real dude? Why did you post that you sound so bitter? You’re Mr. Fucking Beast. Why the fuck do you care about where the fuck you landed on the Rolling Stone’s influential list? I genuinely thought that he would have the wherewithal to not post some shit like that.” @18:02
On Twitter we saw people lIke Rosanna Pansino write:
Mrbeast's mask slipping this much in less than a year has been fascinating to watch. Sorry Jimmy, Caleb has something you'll never have: A personality.” []
And in other popular tweets there were takes like:
“Mr Beast, I cannot respond directly because you blocked me, but I wanted you to know that Caleb is a comedian who makes many laugh and you are some sort of Willy Wonka marionette being puppeted by the algorithm.” []
And in general a lot of people came out to defend Caleb. Even people with generally bad opinions were right this time and wrote:
“Caleb is top tier. Beware that man.” []
It wasn’t all hate though. Mr. Beast did get some support from at least XQC, who reacted to the list while reading it and saying:
“7th place, Caleb Hearon. Yo chat if I’m Mr. Beast I’m suing them straight up. Imagine being Mr. Beast the guy with the biggest analytics on the internet for the longest time in a row. He’s dominating the internet. I’m not trying to glaze. To be beaten by Caleb Hearon -- a guy I’ve never seen in my entire life. Appearing in a photo with Aiden makes you lose 5 points in the top 10 is what it is.”
Either way, Mr. Beast did eventually delete the tweet and when replying to someone about the situation wrote:
“Ngl after this I watched some of his stuff and it’s actually good. I deleted the tweet I don’t want the smoke from the shooters, spare me plz.” []
Although even there he was blasted for not really apologizing and instead fearing the backlash more.
Caleb is taking the whole thing in stride and joked on his Instagram story that he’s in peace talks with Mr. Beast right now.[]
For his part, Jimmy has tried to move and has instead been talking about how excited he is that Beast Games Season 2 finished filming with its $5 million prize.
Which brings me to the second, far more interesting story with Mr. Beast: he’s running out of money.
That’s not just me speculating that.
Instead it comes from a leaked investor deck from earlier this year and reviewed by Business Insider.
That deck reportedly revealed that in 2024, Beast Industries earned $224 million from YouTube and other media.
That’s a ton of money… but was only possibly because the company spent $344 million.
Obviously losing $120 million a year is a non-starter for just about any business, let alone for a social media brand.[]
And Jimmy realizes he has a problem on his hands because in May of last year he brought on Jeffrey Housenbold to help out his corporate side.
Then in September Housenbold was upgraded to CEO.
Housenbold has a long, successful resume as the former CEO of Shutterfly and a venture capitalist that led SoftBank’s $100 billion Vision Fund.
And he has a ton of ideas for tackling the insane costs Mr. Beast runs up in his productions, some of which seem obvious.
For example, Mr. Beast apparently pays retail on like… everything.[]
Like let’s say it’s a video that features gym equipment: Jimmy is apparently buying that for full value. [broll]
For a creator of that size doing a production that large it’s almost unheard of.
Any amount of branding in a Mr. Beast video is worth a ton for companies and he should be working out deals for these items.
In the case of gym equipment, it’d probably be easy to get that stuff for free or heavily discounted for just mentioning it in a video.
What’s even crazier to learn is that Mr. Beast reportedly didn’t even have a fully-dedicated brands team -- you know, the people that would negotiate these deals.
Although I guess it does explain why he’s paying full price on everything.
Household’s new 8-person brand team is going to try and score these items for free or even have Mr. Beast paid to use them in videos.[]
Which is advice I could have given for free.
His company is also renegotiating advertiser rates by as much as 65%, with Housenbold saying:
"We select partners that are authentic and will resonate with our loyal viewers, so we will never work with a cringe product.”
“Sometimes Jimmy has a personal preference, but we have a choice in who to work with, and the economics must pencil out, too."
But even with all that, things probably wouldn’t turn around if Jimmy gets to continue spending crazy amounts per video.
Which is why there’s now a buzzkill squad that will have to force budgets on videos and make sure they stick to those budgets.[]
So this means no more spending $29 million for just the sets of the first two episodes of a Beast Games season and losing tens of millions on the project.
A mistake so massive that even Jimmy said “I’m an idiot.”
According to one ex-staffer, these changes over the past few months have meant that:
"It's getting more corporate.”
"People were used to the Wild West, and now you can't run a company this size that way."
And they’re probably right, we learned years ago that even with a few dozen employees you have to get kinda corporate internally or things just get too crazy.
So I can’t imagine how at 350 employees it was till the wild west.[]
That being said, saying Mr. Beast is running out of money is probably a bit hyperbolic.
It’s just the media side that is bleeding money.
Things like Feastables and other Mr. Beast products were very profitable for the company and accounted for about half the revenue.
And even on the media side of things, Housenbold is confident that by this year things will turn around.
In that same leaked investor deck, it claimed that the company is projected to make $317 in media revenue and spend just $292 million.[]
Obviously that can change over the course of a year, but if it’s even close to breaking even that would be a big win for the company.
Especially if it can keep its quality up.
Which is probably a question for you guys:
Obviously these things have been going on since at least the start of 2025.
Accounting for the lead time of many videos, would you say there’s any difference in the quality of his videos?
Or does the scale feel as crazy and big as ever?
(PHIL: This is also probably a good story to add your personal experience with running a social media company. Obviously the scales are vastly different, but even giving viewers an idea of how hard it is to turn a profit when there’s a misconception that being a big creator automatically means huge incomes).
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There’s been a deadly shooting at the v Minnesota.
The details so far are pretty sparse but we know that the gunman opened fire at the school’s gathering for mass this morning, which was meant to mark the first week of school.
According to Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara, at least 2 students were killed and another 17 people were injured, with 14 of those being kids. []
The two children who died were reportedly 8 and 10 years old and their parents have been notified.
Several of the other victims are also in rough shape - of the 11 victims that went to Hennepin Healthcare, 7 are kids in critical condition with 4 of those requiring surgery.
And those kids range from ages 6 to 14. []
If you’re noticing a trend of very young ages, it’s because Annunciation Catholic as a school only serves Pre-K through 8th grade.
With Chief O’Hara saying,
“This was a deliberate act of violence against innocent children and other people worshipping. The sheer cruelty and cowardice of firing into a church full of children is absolutely incomprehensible.” []
As for the gunman, he was reportedly a lone man in his 20s armed with a shotgun, a rifle, and a pistol and he reportedly took his own life following the shooting. [] []
With authorities promising there is no further threat to the community.
There was also a rumor that the shooter brought an explosive device but that was quickly debunked by the chief - who said that something like a smoke bomb was found but no true explosive. []
Saying it was more like a firework than anything else.
The investigation into motive is still ongoing so we’ll have to keep our eyes on that.
As for responses, we saw Minnesota governor Tim Walz say on X that he’s been briefed on the situation and adding,
“I’m praying for our kids and teachers whose first week of school was marred by this horrific act of violence.”
Which was similar to Senator Amy Klobuchar’s statement - with her saying on X,
“I am heartbroken by the horrific violence at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis this morning. My prayers are with the students, teachers, and families, and I am grateful for the first responders who are on the scene.”
But Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey was quick to shoot down any “thoughts and prayers” conversation - saying,
“Don’t just say this is about thoughts and prayers right now. These kids were literally praying. It was the first week of school. They were in a church.” []
And we know that Trump has also been briefed on the shooting - with the White House saying they’re monitoring updates. []
From here, we’re just going to have to keep our eyes on this as more information comes out.
And our hearts go out to these kids, their families, and the staff that had to live through this horrific tragedy.
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FEMA employees have been placed on administrative leave after warning that Trump’s overhaul of the agency could lead to another Hurricane Katrina.
Right, Katrina, just as a reminder, it was the costliest disaster in US history and one of the deadliest, causing an estimated 1,833 deaths and $161 billion in property damage. []
And the slow federal response led to the passage of the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act – a law which, on Monday, nearly 200 current and former FEMA employees accused the Trump administration of ignoring.
With them signing a letter entitled the “Katrina Declaration” and writing:
“Our shared commitment to our country, our oaths of office, and our mission of helping people before, during, and after disasters compel us to warn Congress and the American people of the cascading effects of decisions made by the current administration.” []
With them then adding that they hoped their warnings would “come in time to prevent not only another national catastrophe like Hurricane Katrina, but the effective dissolution of FEMA itself and the abandonment of the American people such an event would represent.” []
And with that, these employees? They highlighted specific provisions of the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act that they argue the Trump administration is failing to follow.
One, for example, is the requirement that FEMA administrators have a “demonstrated ability in and knowledge of emergency management.” []
And another is that the Homeland Security secretary “may not substantially or significantly reduce the authorities, responsibilities, or functions of the Agency.” []
And yeah, they may have a point.
Right, as far as the qualifications of the guy in charge? Well, suffice it to say, the current acting head, David Richardson? He told employees in June that he didn’t know the US had a hurricane season.
And as far as interference from the Homeland Security secretary?
Well, Kristi Noem has, for example, imposed new spending rules that have delayed hundreds of FEMA contracts and seemingly even impacted the agency’s response to the flooding in Texas in July.
All this as the administration has also cut billions of dollars in FEMA grants intended to help communities deal with disasters.
With Trump saying in June that he wanted to eliminate FEMA after the end of hurricane season and move emergency management efforts “back to the state level.”
But with all that, of course, the Trump administration’s response has not been to take these concerns into consideration.
Instead, you had the acting FEMA press secretary claiming the administration is working to reduce “red tape, inefficiency and outdated processes” across the agency, and adding: []
“It is not surprising that some of the same bureaucrats who presided over decades of inefficiency are now objecting to reform.” []
And with that, a now unknown number of the nearly 200 people who signed that letter have been put on administrative leave – which, notably, is something they saw coming.
Right, about 150 FEMA employees who signed the letter purposefully withheld their identities for fear of retaliation.
With one telling the New York Times that many declined to sign their names because they were worried about being put on administrative leave. []
Which is exactly what happened to 144 employees at the Environmental Protection Agency after they signed a similar letter criticizing the administration.
And with that, it’s also worth noting that this is far from the only example of federal employees speaking out against the administration’s actions.
Right, employees at the NIH, NSF, and NASA have all signed similar letters taking issue with new policies and funding cuts.
But of course, as of now, it seems like they might as well be shouting into the void.
Go to CovePure to get $200 off your own system today!
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This guy traded his kayak and family of 5 for nearly 90 days in a Wisconsin lockup.
This is Ryan Borgwardt (Borg-wARRt) and for a few weeks last year, he was dead.
Or at least, his family thought he was.
Right, on August 11th of 2024, Ryan told his wife that he was going kayaking on Green Lake - roughly 100 miles north of Milwaukee.
But the next morning, he was gone and naturally, his wife reported him missing.
At first, his disappearance was investigated as a possible drowning but after spending 58 days searching for a body that never turned up, police widened the investigation. []
And then, a couple clues they discovered had this whole ordeal starting to smell a little fishy.
Investigators began following this new trail - which led to a woman from Uzbekistan that Ryan had been talking to online.
Turns out, Ryan here faked his death, devastating his wife and their three children, to start a new life with this woman overseas.
The night of his disappearance, he reportedly capsized his kayak, threw his fishing pole, tackle box, phone, wallet, and keys into the lake and rode an e-bike through the night to Madison before taking a bus to Toronto and then a flight to Paris. []
He then made his way to the country of Georgia where he set up his new life - getting an apartment and a job and settling in with the new woman.
But that new life didn’t last long - in November, investigators made contact with Ryan, finding him alive and well, and they persuaded him to come back to Wisconsin. []
Where he was charged with obstructing an officer and his wife of 22 years divorced him.
At first, he pleaded not guilty but he reportedly changed his plea to no contest - which isn’t an admission of guilt but for the purpose of sentencing, it’s treated as such.
Which brings us to the update to this story - Ryan Borg-wARRt was just sentenced to 89 days in jail.
With the judge throwing out the prosecutors’ plan for 45 days and sentencing Ryan to one day in jail for every day that he was missing from when police started the search to when they made contact with him.
With the judge saying it may serve as a deterrent for anyone else thinking of faking their death.
Ryan also agreed to pay $30,000 in restitution to the police department - reimbursing them for the money they spent trying to find him. []
And as for his comment on this situation, Ryan gave a statement before his sentencing - saying,
“I deeply regret the actions I did that night and all the pain I caused my family and friends.” []
But I suppose the question there would be whether he regrets what he did or if he regrets that he got caught.
Either way, I’d love to know your thoughts about this in those comments down below.
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We’ve gotta talk about how yesterday afternoon, everything exploded.
Group chats blew up, work meetings ground to a halt, countless people everywhere lost their damn minds.
It was the proposal heard round the world — Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are finally engaged.
With them announcing the news in a joint post on Instagram, releasing five photos of Kelce down on one knee, the ring on her finger, and the couple embracing. [Post]
All with the caption: “Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married.” [Same post]
Now for almost the entire length of their two-year relationship, Swifties have been waiting for this day.
Right, as early as December 2023, Page Six reported that Kelce had asked Taylor’s father for his blessing, and that he gave it “wholeheartedly.” [Quote]
Which was striking given that their relationship only went public a few months prior, in September of that year, and they only began dating that summer.
Though it also may not have been true, since Kelce’s father just said that Travis asked for the blessing a month ago. [Quote, find “month ago”]
But either way, a source recently told Life and Style, “They’ve considered themselves unofficially engaged for a while and are both 100 percent committed to spending the rest of their lives together and starting a family.” [Quote]
So for months at the very least, Swifties have scoured every social media post, every interview, every video clip and candid photo and piece of reporting for hints of an upcoming engagement.
And in this era, if there’s any uncertainty about when or whether something will happen, people are gonna bet money on it.
So we saw prediction markets offering odds, for example, on whether they would get engaged before the end of the year.
With the platform Kalshi attracting some 257,000 dollars, though that’s relatively small compared to the nearly 900 million paid out in political trades last election season. [Quote, find “900”]
But betters aren’t the only people who cashed in, because brand marketers also saw money signs in all this attention being concentrated at one point.
With Buffalo Wild Wings offering to cater the wedding, Chili’s Grill & Bar offering to do the engagement party, Publix offering to provide the cake, and Auntie Anne’s offering to be the flower girl. [Post, post, post, post]
You had Little Caesar’s proposing a “pizza party for the english teacher and gym teacher,” with Duolingo asking, “but when will it be your spanish teacher’s turn?” [Post and Post]
Krispy Kreme gave out free donuts from 5 to 7 p.m., which, fuck, I can’t believe I missed that. [Post]
I mean, every company under the sun joined in — Walmart, Olive Garden, Panera, Wingstop, DoorDash, the Cheesecake Factory and the Empire State Building.
You even had the official accounts for Shrek, Paddington Bear, and yes, Donald Trump, who, just to refresh, declared in all caps in September “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT,” but now says: [Post, post]
[Clip, 01:01 - 01:09] Caption: “I think he’s a great player. I think he’s a great guy, and I think she’s a terrific person, so I wish them a lot of luck.”
But of course, the biggest reactions came not from opportunistic betters, profit-seeking corporations or self-seeking politicians, but from actual Swifties.
[Clip, 00:26 - 00:35, 00:22 - 00:25, 00:47 - 00:53]
You have people crying, shrieking, probably vomiting out of sheer excitement, and without skipping a beat, jumping straight into detective mode.
Because Swift is notorious for leaving little easter eggs for her fans all over the place, and she’s really into numerology, particularly the number 13.
[Clip, 00:01 - 00:08, 00:12 - 00:17, 00:21 - 00:37]
So Swifties immediately took notice of the fact that this announcement came 13 days after Swift went on Kelce’s podcast, which was itself on August 13.
With some going even deeper, noting, “Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce announced their engagement on 8/26,— “The Prophecy” track 26 on TTPD. And 13+13=26.” [Post]
Also, if the wedding happens next year, it’ll be 2026, a multiple of 13.
And when you throw in the fact that Kelce’s jersey number is 87, things get even juicier.
With one person posting, “Taylor’s 687th post was her engagement to 87 and I’m SCREAMING.” [Post]
Then, Swifties and journalists alike analyzed the engagement photos themselves, obsessively picking apart every detail like their lives depended on it.
With by far the biggest focus being on that humongous ring.
Right, you have an expert telling brides it appears to be a handcrafted, 18-karat yellow gold band, and at the center, set with needle point prongs is an elongated antique cushion-cut diamond, approximately eight carats, F color, and VS1 clarity. [Quote, find “needle”]
All of which they say likely cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, having been designed by Kindred Lubeck [Lubbick], whose website essentially sold out after the news.
But as one writer for The Washington Post notes, this ring isn’t just about a massive stone, it’s a story. [Quote, find “massive”]
With them explaining that Lubeck’s designs are very Victorian and art deco, two epic eras that Swift pulls from in her music and style. [Same quote]
And adding, “But crucially, it’s not a vintage ring. It’s a new ring that conjures another era. Hmm!” [Same quote]
Then there’s her 400-dollar black and white striped Ralph Lauren sundress, which, like her ring, sold out online in less than 20 minutes. [Image]
And finally, those strikingly beautiful flowers.
With a florist breaking them down for PEOPLE Magazine, explainingg that they too pull from imagery in Swift’s music. [Quote, find “imagery”]
With willow, ivy and roses helping to construct this magical garden scene amidst August forest trees. [Same quote]
As well as a 20-foot “domed arboretum” covered in “mostly southern smilax vines, moss and garden roses, anemone [Uh-nemin-ee], roses, lilies and candles. [Quote same link, find “candles”]
Plus two large planters filled with “limelight hydrangea, secret garden roses, delphinium and pink surprise lilies. [Quote same link, find “pink surprise”]
And lastly, they say the ground installation would’ve required boulders, river rocks, plants and a bunch of other flowers.
All of which would’ve likely used up some 800 pounds of greenery and cost up to 38,000 dollars. [Quote same link, find “800” and “38,000”]
Yet as carefully and expensively planned as this all was, the photos are made to seem natural, as if they just happened upon an enchanted forest where a photographer was already waiting.
But as many have pointed out, this appears to be another carefully choreographed piece of stagecraft from an artist who’s very intentional about how she projects her image into the world.
In fact, according to Kelce’s dad, these photos were posted some two weeks after the proposal actually happened. [Headline]
So like the rest of her art, for many this combines the qualities of being expertly concocted and yet completely relatable.
With one writer commenting, “Her music is deeply evocative of very stereotypical American dreams concerning romance and womanhood, and an engagement and a wedding are the big fairy tale fantasy for women in American life.” [Quote]
And continuing, “Taylor knows she needs to give her fans “the fantasy” in a relatable way. That’s what that caption is all about: “Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married.” She is all about wish fulfillment. Her fans want her to have everything she deserves and vice versa.” [Quote same link]
Though to be clear, that’s not to say this is all just a performance, as some people might suggest.
Right, if you go on the “Gaylor” subreddit — the one where people speculate that Swift is actually queer — they’re not taking this news super well.
With some angry at Kelce for deflating their fantasy, others just in denial about it, writing stuff like:
“I believe this is performance art at its finest,” and likening Swift to Julia Roberts’s character in Runaway Bride. [Quote]
As well as: “At the end of the day none of us know how she really feels or identifies. But nothing, absolutely nothing, can ever convince me that Kaylor wasn’t real.” [Same quote]
With that referring to the conspiracy theory that Swift once dated the model Karlie Kloss.
But in an interview with GQ a couple of weeks ago, Kelce insisted that despite the neverending, almost inescapable scrutiny, their love is real.
Saying, “Whenever I’m with her, it feels like we’re just regular people. When there is not a camera on us, we’re just two people that are in love. It can be perceived as something else because of how much it is talked about and how much we are tracked whenever we do go out, but I would say that it’s as normal of…. It happened very organically even though from a media standpoint it was being tracked. It still happened very organically. Nothing I’ve ever done has been a controlled, organized process.” [Quote]
With him adding, “I love being the happiest guy in the world all the fucking time.” [Quote same link]
And Swift appears to feel the same way, with her saying that her 12th album in October will be joyful because "life is more upbeat.”
So its gonna be an interesting next several months, because for Swifties who follow everything Swift does, feel everything she feels, basically live vicariously through her, this is the euphoric honeymoon phase.
But for those of us who are more tuned in to national politics and all the sadness I bring here on this show, we’re going through an extremely grim, chaotic time, and it’s only getting worse.
So perhaps these two parallel realities actually work together, where if you’ve had enough of the horrible shit going on in the world, you can turn that off and escape into the fairytale lives of celebrities.
And there is certainly no shortage of things to discuss now that this engagement is a thing.
Right, when is the wedding? Where is the wedding? Who will be at the wedding? Who will be the bachelorettes? What music will play?
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