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Jimmy Donaldson, better known as MrBeast, started this April Fool's Day with a bang, surprising his legions of fans by announcing that he will be quitting YouTube. Considering today's date is synonymous with practical jokes and pranks, many immediately understood that the announcement was a joke, but a select few seem to have fallen for it. A few others also took the opportunity to play along with Jimmy in the replies and called dibs on his YouTube channel.
The popular content creator took to his X account, which boasts over 29 million followers, and wrote:
“I’m quitting YouTube”
Donaldson is one of the most popular creators on YouTube and reportedly rakes in around $700 million a year. He also happens to be the only non-corporate platform to reach the 200 million subscriber benchmark on the platform. Thus, his announcement naturally garnered a lot of attention on the internet. Some initial reactions to the tweet were ones of disbelief, with fans begging MrBeast to reconsider.
However, most fans have taken this announcement with a pinch of salt, given the post was shared on April 1, and the vlogger’s proclivity for pranks and social experiments.
Incidentally, some followers have jokingly used this as an opportunity to convince MrBeast to hand over his channel to them.
Many leading entrepreneurs and celebrities, including Elon Musk and co-founder of Reddit Alexis Ohanian, chimed in on Donaldson's supposed announcement to quit.
Ohanian admitted that MrBeast "almost had" him.
"Not gonna lie, you almost had me there!"
Elon Musk, on the other hand, was much less obliging and believed that MrBeast should go ahead with the plans to quit. Readers should note Musk has been trying to convince MrBeast to shift to X for a while.
MrBeast says he will post on X full-time after quitting YouTube
The YouTuber followed up the announcement with another post, this time claiming he would start posting on X full-time.
While his latest announcements of quitting YouTube and moving to X appear to be a prank, there is no denying that the internet sensation has been steadily increasing his presence on the platform of late, heavily encouraged by Elon Musk himself.
In January this year, he posted his first video on X, to test out ad revenue generation. The YouTuber later revealed that he had earned over $250K for it, giving rise to speculation about his shift to X. However, as per Donaldson's own admission, the money earned via ad revenue on X is too little compared to YouTube.
Besides this, the popular YouTuber is bringing his viral content to Amazon Prime. MrBeast has joined hands with the OTT platform to create the world’s largest game show, which is based on his YouTube series. Titled Beast Games, it will reportedly feature 1,000 contestants competing for a $5 million cash payout.
