NEW YORK (AP) — MrBeast has ordered a full assessment of the internal culture in his YouTube empire as well as an investigation into “allegations of inappropriate behavior by people in the company," according to a confidential memo obtained by The Associated Press.
Addressed to “Team Beast” employees, the message sent Wednesday outlines infrastructure changes including plans to hire a chief human resources officer and require company-wide sensitivity training. The expanded probe signals that troubles inside YouTube's biggest channel could go deeper than the “serious allegations” facing a longtime collaborator acknowledged last month by MrBeast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson.
“As your leader, I take responsibility, and I am committed to continue to improve and evolve my leadership style,” Donaldson wrote. “I recognize that I also need to create a culture that makes all our employees feel safe and allows them to do their best work.”
A spokesperson for MrBeast confirmed that the memo was sent to employees. The memo comes after a turbulent few weeks for the YouTuber, long adored by his young fans for freewheeling videos of outrageous giveaways and audacious charitable acts.
Donaldson admitted to previously using “inappropriate language” last week after clips circulated online of past homophobic and racist remarks. An early production of his ambitious game show — set to feature 1,000 competitors and a $5 million grand prize — recently brought safety complaints from contestants who described a chaotic set where they lacked regular access to food, water and medication.
The memo reveals Donaldson has hired white-shoe law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan to investigate his friend and fellow creator Ava Tyson — who left the company in July after online accusations that she shared inappropriate sexual messages with minors.
In the meantime, Donaldson told employees that the company he founded in 2016 at age 18 is making several changes intended “to foster a better internal culture as we continue to grow.”
The memo outlined plans to also hire a chief financial officer and general counsel. The company will offer an “anonymous reporting mechanism” as well as mandatory training for all employees on “safety, sexual harassment, LGBTQ, diversity, sensitivity training, and workplace conduct," according to the memo.
Donaldson has recently moved to expand his influence far beyond his main YouTube channel's record 309 million subscribers.
Other YouTube channels “Beast Reacts” and “Beast Philanthropy” total more than 34 million and 25 million subscribers, respectively. His MrBeast Burger has been widely panned but Walmart still carries his popular Feastables chocolate bars. And Amazon Prime Video is set to carry “Beast Games” — touted as the “biggest reality competition.”
But managing such an expansive company gets difficult, said Jake Bjorseth, founder of the Gen Z advertising agency Trndsttrs. He finds that is especially complex in MrBeast’s case when “an individual is the brand” and “his image is now more closely associated with the revenue.”
As the internal culture necessarily shifts more “corporate,” Bjorseth said, Donaldson will have to find a way to “de-risk everything” while still maintaining the “magic” for his followers.
MrBeast’s reaction to the spiraling controversies and any ensuing content changes could end up alienating different parts of his broad audience, Bjorseth added.
“Are we going to see consumer backlash at the product level? Because that’s where there could be some serious ramifications,” he said.
“What do they do with the next release of a YouTube video?” he continued. “Does there need to be a response video that comes out of this or is it going to be business as usual? They’re in a very tricky spot.”
A MrBeast spokesperson told AP that the most recent video — posted Aug. 3 and titled “Survive 100 Days In Nuclear Bunker, Win $500,000” — was the second fastest to reach 100 million views in the channel’s history.
Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.
FILE - Jimmy Donaldson, the popular YouTube video maker who goes by MrBeast, wears a Lionel Messi jersey as he stands in a sideline box at the start of an MLS soccer match between Inter Miami and CF Montreal, March 10, 2024, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)
NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is quieter on Friday, and U.S. stocks are edging back from the records they set the day before during a worldwide rally.
The S&P 500 was 0.3% lower in morning trading but still on track for its fifth winning week in the last six. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 71 points, or 0.2%, after it likewise set an all-time high the day before. The Nasdaq composite was 0.3% lower, as of 10:30 a.m. Eastern time.
FedEx dragged on the market with a drop of 14.8% after its profit and revenue for the latest quarter fell short of analysts’ expectations. It said U.S. customers sent fewer packages through priority services, while it had to contend with higher wages for workers and other costs. FedEx also cut its forecast for revenue growth for its fiscal year.
Helping to limit the market's losses was Nike, which ran 5.4% higher after it named Elliott Hill as its chief executive. Hill, 60, had spent more than three decades at Nike in various leadership positions before retiring in 2020. He replaces the retiring John Donahoe.
Shares in Trump Media and Technology Group slumped another 6.8% as its biggest shareholder, former President Donald Trump, won the freedom to sell his shares if he wants.
Trump owns more than half of the nearly $3 billion company behind the Truth Social platform. But Trump and other insiders in the company had been unable to cash in because a “lock-up agreement” prevented them from selling any of their shares. Before the lockup expired, Trump said he was in no rush to sell.
TMTG stock has dropped below $14 from more than $60 in March, and its decline Friday was in line with its volatile history. Over the last six months, it’s often swung by at least 5% in a day, up or down.
Homebuilder Lennar fell 4.6% after delivering a mixed earnings report. Its profit for the latest quarter topped expectations. But it also said it made less in profit on each $100 of home sales, and it expects that margin to stay flat in the current quarter.
Conditions may be set to improve for homebuilders, though. The Federal Reserve earlier this week cut its main interest rate for the first time in more than four years, with more likely to come. That could make mortgages more affordable for home buyers.
The momentous move closed the door on a run where the Fed kept its main interest rate at a two-decade high in hopes of slowing the U.S. economy enough to stamp out high inflation. Now that inflation has fallen from its peak two summers ago, Chair Jerome Powell said the Fed can focus more on keeping the job market solid and the economy out of a recession.
The Fed is still under pressure because hiring has begun to slow under the weight of higher interest rates. Some critics say the central bank waited too long to cut rates and may have damaged the economy.
Critics also say the U.S. stock market may be running too hot on hopes that the Federal Reserve will be able to pull off what earlier seemed nearly impossible: getting inflation down to 2% without creating a recession.
Barry Bannister, chief equity strategist at Stifel, is still calling for a sharp drop for the S&P 500 by the end of the year. He points to how much faster stock prices have climbed than profits at companies. When stocks have looked this expensive on such measures in the past, he said a recession and sharp downturn for stocks has followed.
He also warned in a report that slowing hiring “is now symbolic of recession risk.”
No economic releases are on the calendar for Friday to show where the economy may be heading. Next week will have preliminary reports on U.S. business activity, the final revision for how quickly the economy grew during the summer and the latest update on spending by U.S. consumers.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 3.75% from 3.72% late Thursday.
In stock markets abroad, indexes dropped across much of Europe after rising in Asia. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.5% after the Bank of Japan left interest rates steady, as was expected.
In China, the central bank left key lending rates unchanged on Friday. Indexes rose by 1.4% in Hong Kong and less than 0.1% in Shanghai.
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AP Writers Matt Ott and Zimo Zhong contributed.
A bus passes the Wall St. subway station on Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan)
Trader Michale Conlon, right, works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's news conference appears on a television screen behind him, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
A person walks in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index and Japanese Yen exchange rate at a securities firm Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
A person stands in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
People ride bicycles in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
A person rides a bicycle in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei index at a securities firm Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
