A former HR director at Netflix said the company's culture of feedback and transparency initially took him aback.
Cheick Soumaré; Illustration by Thomas Fuller/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
Debate has swirled in tech recently around cutting "low performers."
A former Netflix HR director says proactive firings can improve morale among high achievers.
He also explained Netflix's culture of feedback and transparency.
From Meta to Microsoft, tech companies have recently been taking an ax to "low performers" — and their actions have caused some debate about the potentially damaging moniker.
Netflix has never been shy about its high-performance culture, embodied by its famous culture memo that debuted in 2009 and has been revised since.
"We aim only to have high performers," the memo says. Like a professional sports team, the streamer focuses on "picking the right person for every position, even when that means swapping out someone they love for a better player."
Cheick Soumaré, a former Netflix HR director, said this culture was key to keeping high performers happy.
If high-achieving employeessee colleagues failing to pull their weight and it goes unchecked, "their morale goes down, and that creates other problems," Soumaré told Business Insider.
Soumaré supported several teams from 2020 to 2022, including business and legal affairs as well as government relations.
"We want to be very clear that we do think excellence in having the colleagues around you is super important," Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters said on the Decoder podcast last year. "To the degree the business evolves or moves and we think there's a change that needs to be made, we will make it."
Netflix has a high level of feedback and transparency
When it came to handling performance issues, Soumaré said he admired Netflix's culture of transparent feedback.
Netflix's culture memo says "extraordinary candor" is a key value in assembling a "dream team." And rather than quarterly or annually, feedback should happen daily, "like brushing your teeth."
"We do think excellence in having the colleagues around you is super important," Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters said in an interview last year.
Amy Sussman/Getty Images
Soumaré said those tenants mirror practices on the ground — so much so that when he first started, the transparency took him aback.
Weeks into his tenure, he said he received a companywide email from one of Netflix's co-CEOs describing an employee who'd been replaced after not meeting expectations.
"I was like, 'Wow, talk about transparency,'" Soumaré said.
Soumaré said Netflix's culture wasn't unjustly cutthroat. He said anyone with performance issues received "several rounds of feedback" before being let go.
Netflix's 'keeper test'
Netflix is known for its distinctive culture, which includes its "keeper test," another practice used to weed out underperformers.
The company updated its culture memo last year, including a slight tweak to the "keeper test." That part of the memo says if a manager would not fight to keep an employee or rehire them in hindsight, "we believe it's fairer to everyone to part ways quickly."
In 2017, former Netflix CEO Reed Hastings — currently its executive chairman — used the test to fire a close friend, former chief product officer Neil Hunt.
"You have to separate the emotion from the logic," Hunt said at the time.
Five senators expressed 'alarm' about reports concerning the advertising tactics of Elon Musk's X.
Allison Robbert/Getty Images
Five senators asked the DOJ to probe the advertising tactics of Elon Musk's X.
They said they were alarmed by reports that X used Musk's political power to sway advertisers.
Leaders from one advertiser interpreted its dealings with X as an implicit threat, the WSJ previously reported.
A group of Democratic senators have called for a Justice Department probe into whether X has used Elon Musk's political status to pressure companies into advertising on the platform.
Senators Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, Richard Blumenthal, Adam Schiff, and Chris Van Hollen wrote to Attorney General Pam Bondi to "express alarm about reports that Elon Musk's social media company 'X' (formerly Twitter) is leveraging his influential position in the Trump Administration to extract revenue from advertisers."
"If evidence emerges that Musk is, in fact, using his official role to coerce advertisers or is participating in particular matters in which he has a financial interest, we ask that DOJ investigate the potential violation of federal ethics laws, as the Department should for any other federal employee who appears to be breaking the law," the letter says.
Business Insider viewed a copy of the letter, which The Wall Street Journal earlier reported.
The senators specifically reference an article published last month by the Journal that said X's CEO, Linda Yaccarino, and a lieutenant had pushed IPG to spend more money on X, citing people with knowledge of the talks. The Journal reported that IPG execs had interpreted the message as a reminder that the Trump administration could impede its proposed $13 billion merger with the ad giant Omnicom.
X did not immediately respond to a request for comment. IPG declined to comment. The company previously said clients had the ultimate decision-making authority on where they spend their budgets.
The senators also wrote a separate letter to Andrew Ferguson, chair of the Federal Trade Commission, and Omeed Assefi, acting assistant attorney general of the DOJ's antitrust division, urging them to "resist any pressure based on private business interests to manipulate your agenda."
The senators asked the DOJ and FTC to inform them if Musk or his associates attempted to interfere with their antitrust work.
"Every business seeking a merger or acquisition deserves to have their matter reviewed without undue influence from the President or his allies," the letter says.
It's an about-face from the waves of advertisers who fled X over concerns about brand safety, performance, and the return of some banned accounts after Musk took over the platform in 2022.
X has since gone on to sue several big-name advertisers — including Mars, Shell, and Colgate — accusing them of illegally conspiring to boycott the platform through their membership in a now-defunct industry initiative called the Global Alliance for Responsible Media. GARM shut down days after X filed the lawsuit. Its parent organization, a trade body called the World Federation of Advertisers, has said it plans to defend itself against the lawsuit and said it hadn't violated any antitrust laws. The litigation is ongoing.
Read the letters Senators Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, Richard Blumenthal, Adam Schiff, and Chris Van Hollen sent to the DOJ and FTC in full below:
A still from "House of the Dragon," which could help to fuel retention for Disney and Max's bundle.
Theo Whiteman/HBO
Early data shows the Disney and Max bundle beats Netflix in terms of subscriber retention.
Three months after its launch, 80% of subscribers stuck with Disney and Max.
With Netflix dominating, analysts have predicted a "mega-bundle" could arrive in the coming years.
New data suggests there's one clear way streaming services can compete with Netflix: bundling.
A power-in-numbers approach could pose a threat to Netflix's unrivaled loyalty in the streaming market.
In terms of subscriber retention, the Disney and Max bundle — which launched in July and starts at $17 — came out on top in the months following its launch, according to new data from the analytics company Antenna.
From July to September 2024, 80% of subscribers stayed with the service. That put it ahead of Netflix, which kept 74% of customers over the same period.
Disney's in-house bundle — without Max — also trounced individual services like Hulu, Disney, and Max in terms of retention.
While that's still a fraction of Netflix's 300 million, EMARKETER analyst Ross Benes said "aggressive" bundling had kickstarted growth at WBD, where US subs have remained flat "even after adding live sports."
"Bundles viewers tend to pay a lower price, thus generate lower [average revenue per user] generally," Benes said, "but bringing them into the fold expands audience reach."
Analysts have previously touted bundling as a prospective remedy to Netflix's dominance.
Last year, the streamer tweaked its infamous culture memo — including an addendum to its "keeper test."
The company's ovations about culture aren't just lip service, said Cheick Soumaré, a former HR director at the streamer from 2020 to 2022: "What you see in the culture memo is really what happens at Netflix."
While Netflix had layoffs, the company grew its overall workforce in 2024. As of December 2024, the company had 14,000 employees — a 7.7% increase over last year.
Its careers page lists over 500 positions as the company looks to staff its live content, advertising, and other various teams globally.
How much do new hires make? Like other US companies, Netflix discloses how much it plans to pay workers it hires on work visas.
Business Insider analyzed publicly available offer data from October 1, 2022, to December 31, 2024, to see how much Netflix is willing to pay for talent in the US. The data, which the US Department of Labor's Office of Foreign Labor Certification released, included wages from around 720 certified foreign-labor applications Netflix submitted.
Many of the roles offered six-figure base salaries. The data includes base salaries only and not additional stock awards or bonuses. They also don't cover all employee offers — only those the company made to workers on a visa or with a green card. The salaries captured in the data tend to be tech-focused, such as data scientists or software engineers.
Read on to find out the US salaries for around 185 different Netflix jobs across content, product and technology, marketing, corporate, and more. We highlighted roles in each category and then listed all the roles in the data alphabetically.
Netflix has declined to comment on this story.
How Netflix looks at compensation
Netflix's compensation policy stems from its cultural philosophy, which hinges on principles including a high-performance culture, lack of a formal vacation policy, and aversion to "brilliant jerks."
Instead, Netflix pays its employees well. The company says it pays staffers at the top of workers' "personal market" based on their role and qualifications for the job.
"Whatever the market is ready to offer you for the same job, that's what Netflix will pay," Soumaré said.
As it relates to the data, the wage offers listed are the minimum amounts the company said it would pay specific workers in applications, US Department of Labor documentation shows.
Netflix may pay employees more than the figures reflected in this data or compensate them in additional ways. While Netflix doesn't give bonuses, it does let employees choose each year how much compensation they want in cash versus stock options.
The data includes Netflix base salary offers ranging from roughly $80,000 to $1 million a year, with a median of around $226,000.
Corporate
Keri Russell as Kate Wyler in "The Diplomat."
Alex Bailey/Netflix
Netflix's corporate team includes roles in finance, legal, strategy and analysis, operations, and more, according to its jobs site.
Here are examples of annual salaries in these fields:
Analyst, Tax Operations: $141,534 median; ranging from $137,030 to $146,037
Associate, Corporate FP&A: $210,000
Associate, Corporate Ops Strategy, Planning, and Analysis: $220,000
HR Business Partner, Manager: $222,019
HR Business Partner, Director: $750,000
HR Talent Partner, Creative Production: $285,000
Operations and Portfolio Manager, Talent Technology: $151,102 median; ranging from $136,157 to $166,046
Revenue Accountant: $137,030
Senior Content Accountant: $109,346 median; ranging from $101,650 to $155,000
Content and production
Netflix's "Stranger Things."
Netflix
Netflix's content organization covers content acquisition, production, visual effects, animation, and more. Some content-related salaries in the data include:
Coordinator, Major Studio Film Licensing: $123,386 median; ranging from $121,763 to $125,008
Director, Documentary Film: $172,328
Associate, FS&A, Content: $103,314
Product Manager, Live-Action Production Media: $377,553 median; ranging from $155,106 to $600,000
Production Manager: $283,442
Production Planner: $195,936
Senior Manager, Production Finance: $260,000 (listed under Netflix Animation)
Vertical Lead, Overall Deals: $166,046
Product and technology
Netflix's "3 Body Problem."
Ed Miller/Netflix
Netflix's product and technology organization had some of the highest-paying salaries in the data. Here are some examples of salaries in the division, which spans advertising, business development, data science and engineering, product management, and more:
Data Analyst: $183,310 median; ranging from $151,694 to $210,704
Data Engineer: $218,847 median; ranging from $139,464 to $295,194
Data Scientist: $222,113 median; ranging from $146,744 to $295,194
Director, Growth Data Science and Engineering: $1 million
Senior Data Engineer: $540,000 median; ranging from $420,000 to $700,000
Senior Data Scientist: $565,000 median; ranging from $143,291 to $650,000
Senior Product Designer: $283,442 median; ranging from $119,766 to $400,000
Senior Product Designer, Ads: $217,610
Senior Production Planner: $205,150
Senior Research Scientist: $590,000 median; ranging from $550,000 to $630,000
Senior Researcher: $295,194
Senior Software Engineer: $455,000 median; ranging from $170,872 to $750,000
Software Engineer: $226,158 median; ranging from $135,283 to $525,000
Marketing and communications
"Bridgerton."
Liam Daniel/Netflix
There were a handful of marketing and communications salaries included in the data. That Netflix team includes editorial and publishing, communications, consumer products, partner marketing, and publicity, per the company's jobs page. Examples from the data in those fields include:
Manager, Growth and Engagement, Publishing Innovation: $100,630
Specialist, Communications: $96,190 median; ranging from $93,579 to $98,800
Games
"Arcane."
Netflix
Games are a newer venture for Netflix. This division includes its Games Studio as well as developers it bought, like Night School Studio, Boss Fight Entertainment, Next Games, Moonlight Games, and Spry Fox, per the jobs page.
Here are examples of salaries for jobs related to Netflix's gaming business:
Game Reliability Manager: $137,550
Games Service Reliability Manager: $128,086
Manager, Game Analytics: $210,704
Product Manager, Mobile Games: $475,000
VFX Artist, Games Studio: $161,907
All roles
"The Madness."
Amanda Matlovich/Netflix
The data also included salaries for other Netflix jobs, such as corporate, data, editorial, human resources, and research roles.
Some of the highest-paying jobs in the data include a director of growth data science and engineering with a $1 million annual salary and a senior machine learning engineer making $775,000.
Here's the full list of positions and annual wages included in the data, in alphabetical order:
Analyst, Tax Operations: $141,534 median; ranging from $137,030 to $146,037
Analytics Engineer: $197,371 median; ranging from $170,186 to $295,194
Android Automation Engineer: $254,800 median; ranging from $226,158 to $283,442
Application Security Engineer: $172,536
Associate Product Manager, Live Services: $214,074
Associate, Ads FP&A: $123,240
Associate, Corporate FP&A: $210,000
Associate, Corporate Ops Strategy, Planning, and Analysis: $220,000
Associate, F&S, Plans and Pricing: $174,117 median; ranging from $156,770 to $191,464
Associate, F&S, Products and Technology: $156,770
Associate, FS&A, Content: $103,314
Associate, FS&A, Product: $174,117
Associate, FS&A, Products and Technology: $167,086 median; ranging from $148,595 to $174,117
Associate, Memberships Strategy and Analysis: $240,000
Associate, Pricing Strategy, Planning, and Analysis: $183,310
CAD Manager: $165,000
Capacity Planner: $183,310
Coordinator, Major Studio Film Licensing: $123,386 median; ranging from $121,763 to $125,008
Counsel, Advertising Legal Affairs: $330,554
Creative Lead: $275,000
Data Analyst: $183,310 median; ranging from $151,694 to $210,704
Data and Insights Project Manager: $239,200 median; ranging from $210,704 to $285,000
Data Engineer: $218,847 median; ranging from $139,464 to $295,194
Data Engineering Manager: $218,608
Data Scientist: $222,113 median; ranging from $146,744 to $295,194
Data Visualization Engineer: $192,941
Director, Business and Legal Affairs, Post Production and Production Planning: $218,754 median; ranging from $218,754 to $650,000
Director, Business Development: $387,456 median; ranging from $249,912 to $525,000
Director, Commercial Operations: $685,000
Director, Documentary Film: $172,328
Director, Growth Data Science and Engineering: $1 million
Director, Plans Innovation: $210,704
Director, Post Services: $175,615 median; ranging from $168,147 to $183,082
Director, Product and Tech Legal (Consumer): $330,554
Director, Product Platform Strategy, Planning and Analysis: $206,274
Director, Production Travel: $183,040
Distributed Systems Engineer: $283,442 median; ranging from $192,941 to $283,442
Enablement Manager, Data Platform: $210,704
Engineering Manager: $283,442 median; ranging from $266,926 to $294,299
Finance Functional Lead: $132,787
Full Stack Engineer: $184,662
Game Reliability Manager: $137,550
Games Service Reliability Manager: $128,086
Global Technical Research Manager: $180,000
Hardware Engineer: $211,120
HR Business Partner, Manager: $222,019
HR Business Partner, Director: $750,000
HR Business Partner, Director, Internal Studios/UCAN: $193,232
HR Business Partner, Senior Director: $193,232
HR Business Partner, Tech: $238,098
HR Talent Partner, Creative Production: $285,000
Indirect Tax Analyst: $132,787 median; ranging from $130,000 to $137,030
"Squid Game," pictured, is one of Netflix's most popular series, and could reel in former subscribers.
No Ju-han / Netflix
Data suggests Netflix is likelier than rivals to win back subscribers after they cancel.
Antenna found that 61% of subscribers who canceled in 2023 returned to the service within a year.
Netflix also has an unrivaled churn rate within the industry.
For Netflix, a canceled subscription doesn't necessarily spell disaster. In fact, the service will probably get the subscriber back — and quickly.
Data from the analytics company Antenna provided to Business Insider indicates that within six months of canceling in 2023, 50% of subscribers rejoined the streamer. Within a year, 61% of subscribers were back on the platform.
That means Netflix's '"win-back curve" was steeper than the weighted average of its competitors.
All told, Antenna — which analyzed nine streaming services, including Apple TV+, Disney+, Hulu, and Max — found that 34% of US subscribers who canceled a service in 2023 returned to that service within six months, and 45% returned within a year.
Antenna measured win-back data for its annual "State of Subscriptions" report by looking at US cancellations initiated in 2023, excluding free tiers. The company used data from millions of transaction records, weighted to be representative of the US population.
Netflix declined to comment.
In addition to winning back subscribers, the streamer bests its rivals when it comes to churn rate, or the monthly rate of people who cancel a subscription.
Jeff Bezos unveiled sweeping changes to The Washington Post's opinion pages.
Coverage will now center around two pillars: personal liberties and free markets.
The search for a new opinions editor has begun after David Shipley stepped away, Bezos said.
Jeff Bezos unveiled sweeping changes to The Washington Post's opinion page in a note to staff that he also shared on X.
"We are going to be writing every day in support and defense of two pillars: personal liberties and free markets," Bezos wrote. "We'll cover other topics too of course, but viewpoints opposing those pillars will be left to be published by others."
Bezos, who owns the Post, said there's no longer a need for "a broad-based opinion section that sought to cover all views" because of the internet.
"I am of America and for America, and proud to be so," he wrote. "And a big part of America's success has been freedom in the economic realm and everywhere else."
As part of the overhaul, Bezos said that opinions editor David Shipley is stepping away from the paper, and that the search is on for a replacement.
Will Lewis, publisher and CEO of the Post, echoed Bezos' view in his own staff memo.
"This is not about siding with any political party," Lewis wrote in a memo shared with Business Insider. "This is about being crystal clear about what we stand for as a newspaper."
While newspaper owners generally set the direction of opinion pages, the shift prompted some fierce criticism.
Martin Baron, who was executive editor of the Post from 2013 to 2021, emailed BI that he was "sad and disgusted" by Bezos' action, calling it counter to his history of standing up for editorial independence at the Post while Baron was there.
"Bezos argues for personal liberties. But his news organization now will forbid views other than his own in its opinion section," Baron wrote. "It was only weeks ago that The Post described itself as providing coverage for 'all of America.' Now its opinion pages will be open to only some of America, those who think exactly as he does."
Chief economics reporter Jeff Stein wrote on X that the move was a "massive encroachment by Jeff Bezos into The Washington Post's opinion section."
"Makes clear dissenting views will not be published or tolerated there," he wrote.
A current Post staffer on the news side told BI that there was "a lot of tension in the newsroom that we're next."
"Top editors are reminding us that so far there hasn't been any interference in the newsroom," this person said. They asked for anonymity in discussing internal matters; their identity is known to BI.
The staffer also said Bezos's heavy-handed messaging felt like a first, likening it to "a proclamation coming down from high."
This new shake-up comes after a series of controversies at the Post.
In October, the Post made waves when it opted not to endorse a candidate in the presidential election — a decision that the Post reported came from Bezos himself.
Following a year of internal turmoil, hundreds of Post staffers sent Bezos a letter in January asking him to intervene after integrity and transparency issues — far beyond the endorsement controversy, the letter said — had precipitated staff departures.
The Los Angeles Times has also been roiled by controversy after its billionaire owner, Patrick Soon-Shiong, became more involved in the paper's opinion section. Before the presidential election, he stopped the paper from endorsing then-VP Kamala Harris. He also said the paper had moved too far to the left and called for a more balanced approach to covering President Donald Trump.
In his second term, Trump has put greater pressure on the mainstream US news media. His administration has opened investigations into news organizations and thwarted some outlets' access to covering events.
Here's the note that Bezos shared with staff in full:
I'm writing to let you know about a change coming to our opinion pages.
We are going to be writing every day in support and defense of two pillars: personal liberties and free markets. We'll cover other topics too of course, but viewpoints opposing those pillars will be left to be published by others.
There was a time when a newspaper, especially one that was a local monopoly, might have seen it as a service to bring to the reader's doorstep every morning a broad-based opinion section that sought to cover all views. Today, the internet does that job.
I am of America and for America, and proud to be so. Our country did not get here by being typical. And a big part of America's success has been freedom in the economic realm and everywhere else. Freedom is ethical — it minimizes coercion — and practical — it drives creativity, invention, and prosperity.
I offered David Shipley, whom I greatly admire, the opportunity to lead this new chapter. I suggested to him that if the answer wasn't "hell yes," then it had to be "no." After careful consideration, David decided to step away. This is a significant shift, it won't be easy, and it will require 100% commitment — I respect his decision. We'll be searching for a new Opinion Editor to own this new direction.
I'm confident that free markets and personal liberties are right for America. I also believe these viewpoints are underserved in the current market of ideas and news opinion. I'm excited for us together to fill that void.
MrBeast says long-tenured employees are like the "eighth wonder of the world."
Cooper Neill/Getty Images
MrBeast says the value of a long-term employee is "unfathomable."
Yet loyalty appears to be decaying across the workforce, and Gen Zers are increasingly disengaged.
The top YouTuber also likened employees who share his tilted work-life balance to "unicorns."
MrBeast's videos are often measured in minutes, yet behind the scenes, the YouTube star prefers to think in years.
The creator, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, recently told "The Diary Of A CEO" podcast that he doesn't want to train someone for six months only to see them leave his company a few months later.
"The eighth wonder of the world is investing heavily in an employee, and then they stick around for a decade," 26-year-old Donaldson said.
He called that kind of value "unfathomable."
But loyalty to an employer can be hard to come by in the current market. The median number of years US workers had been with their employer was 3.9 in January 2024 — the lowest since 2002, per the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
It's perhaps a sign that job-hopping doesn't necessarily carry the same stigma it once did — and also that what Donaldson is seeking in tenure and devotion to the work is something not everyone is willing to give.
There's evidence that many GenZers are more disillusioned and disengaged than their older counterparts and that many young workers often "work to live" after having seen prior generations suffer.
Loyalty is "maybe more the exception these days than the norm," said Christopher Myers, the faculty director of the Center for Innovative Leadership at the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School. But it can benefit workers and employers alike.
Myers said Donaldson appears to understand that to keep workers for long periods, he needs to not just invest in them but give them opportunities to demonstrate the know-how they've developed.
For his part, Donaldson said he likely spent four years training and working with Tyler Conklin, who writes and directs many of his videos — including speaking with him five to six hours a day. Now, Donaldson said, Conklin can practically run the show.
"He knows exactly how I think, what I value," Donaldson said on the podcast.
A 'shared sense of purpose'
Margie Warrell, a leadership consultant and author of the book "The Courage Gap," told BI that that investment in Conklin and his loyalty to Donaldson are examples of what can happen when workers feel aligned with leadership on why they're doing the work.
"My guess is that MrBeast creates a lot of shared sense of purpose," she said. That, in turn, leads workers to give their best — not out of obligation but because they love the work.
A representative for Donaldson didn't respond to a request for comment.
In addition to showing loyalty, Donaldson said some of the company's top performers — including editors — often put in the same amount of hours each week as he does.
Donaldson said it's "hard to find" the kinds of people who match his hard-charging approach to craft and admittedly tilted work-life balance.
"When you do, you've got to treasure them and recognize that they're unicorns," he said.
Warrell said that founders and top execs often don't operate on a "balanced, 40-hour week." Instead, she said, many people in such roles try to integrate their work as best they can into their lives.
"When you're doing something that's exciting and inspiring, you do work a lot of hours," Warrell said.
She said that while it's likely not a good fit for everybody, it appears to be an attractive proposition for Donaldson's long-serving employees.
"He's saying, 'Here's part of the value exchange: I develop you, and I want you to hang around because I pour a lot into you,'" Warrell said.
From his propensity for risk and discomfort to his obsession with detail, Jimmy "MrBeast" Donaldson shared some of the traits behind his success in a wide-ranging interview on "The Diary of a CEO" podcast.
Donaldson discussed his tips for hiring and detailed how navigating negativity both inside and outside his companies has helped him develop a deeper sense of self.
A representative for MrBeast declined to comment.
Here are five of the biggest takeaways:
1. Long-term employee retention is the 'eighth wonder of the world'
Donaldson said a core component of his success is the people that he surrounds himself with.
"I feed off the energy of the people around me," he said. "I start to talk like them, I become interested in the things they're interested in."
In terms of hiring, he said he seeks coachable candidates who see the value in his mission. The worst trait in a potential hire? Mediocrity.
He said cultivating employees who stick around for the long haul is like the "eighth wonder of the world" in business.
"What I like is I train someone for a year, and then I get nine years of dividends on the back-end where they crush at their job — and I'm constantly paying them more because they're becoming more valuable with time," he said.
2. Negativity has helped him cultivate a stronger sense of self
Given the scale of his reach, Donaldson said that negativity — including from former employees and viewers — is inevitable.
But it's taught him not to let the whims of the internet determine who he is.
He also said that, ultimately, his motivations are simpler than the rumor mill might suggest.
"It's funny — the more good you do, the more people think you're secretly evil," Donaldson said. "In my opinion, a world where I help people is just more fun than a world where I don't."
3. An obsession with detail
While Donaldson rose to renown as a YouTuber, he said building his chocolate company, Feastables, now scratches a similar itch.
"I just really love solving consistent, complex, hard problems," he said. "I think that's what gets me out of bed — and the harder the problem, the more exciting it is."
Donaldson said that Feastables does "nine figures" and emphasizes ethical sourcing.
As an example of his attention to detail, he said he noticed early on that boxes on store shelves were toppling due to their design and weight distribution. So, Donaldson said he paid people to put GoPro cameras in Walmart aisles to investigate the issue, and then he hired a package engineer to right the ship.
"All these little things add up," he said.
4. 'I don't really feel risk'
Early on in his YouTube career, when he was reinvesting most of his earnings into future videos, Donaldson said his mother balked at his propensity for risk, secretly setting aside $5,000 in his bank account for savings.
When he found out, he ended up reinvesting it in his YouTube business.
"I don't really feel risk — if anything, risk excites me, and I have a very high threshold for it," he said.
As time went on and he became increasingly successful, Donald said his mother learned to trust him.
5. A willingness to be uncomfortable sets him apart
From burying himself alive to spending time on a deserted island — to traveling for a majority of the year in order to film all of his ambitious stunts — Donaldson said his willingness to endure hard things sets him apart from competitors.
"If my mental health was a priority, I wouldn't be as successful as I am," he said.
And remaining uncomfortable over the years has created a unique advantage.
"Something I always tell myself," he continued, "is 'How you feel right now is why no one else does what you do — and if you push through this, that's just even more reason why no one will ever be who you are.'"
A recent Super Bowl marketing campaign from the trendy flavored-beverage brand Poppi has sparked some backlash online.
Eugene Gologursky via Getty Images
Extravagant influencer marketing campaigns are sparking online backlash.
Poppi drew some criticism for loaning out vending machines to influencers for the Super Bowl.
We spoke with marketers about how over-the-top campaigns could hurt a brand's image.
A wave of anti-extravagance is afoot within the influencer marketing space — and it can be a minefield for brands.
Prebiotic soda company Poppi caused an online firestorm earlier this month when it made dozens of influencers an extravagant loan: Poppi-branded vending machines over Super Bowl weekend to promote its commercial during the big game.
Wasteful PR packaging has been a conversation in the beauty space for years, said social media consultant Rachel Karten. Now, campaigns by brands that could be interpreted as financially or environmentally wasteful are not resonating broadly — in part due to the macroeconomic climate, said Olivia McNaughten, the senior director of product marketing and partnerships at Grin.
Those sensitivities can be heightened when it comes to influencers, who are supposed to be relatable, McNaughten said.
"It looks like the brand is essentially wining and dining an influencer for their attention," Karten added. "And the customer's like, 'well, hey, we actually buy your product. Why aren't you giving us that same treatment?'"
Poppi told Business Insider that the machines were loans for Super Bowl viewing parties and would be rolling out more broadly.The company also said that false claims about their price tags were circulating online. Competitor Olipop, for instance, commented on TikTok that the machines cost $25,000 — a figure Poppi said had been inflated by 60%.
But even the appearance of extravagance can turn off consumers in the current polarizing cultural landscape.
Tarte Cosmetics, which has thrownover-the-topinfluencer trips for years, drew additional scrutiny this year for a trip that coincided with the Los Angeles fires.
'You go through the list of all the reasons why you might be canceled'
In addition to the perceived wastefulness, the backlash against Poppi also stemmed from the campaign's focus on mega influencers, rather than incorporating a mix of creators with varying follower sizes, McNaughten said. A lack of diversity in the influencers Poppi tapped also played a role, said Nathan Jun Poekert, chief marketing officer of General Idea.
"It's really, really hard to avoid criticism on the internet right now, no matter what you do," Jun Poekert said.
Brands should still enter the ring in a polarized climate, but be prepared. Before reaching out to talent, Jun Poekert said, "You go through the list of all the reasons why you might be canceled."
Companies are making shifts to democratize access to influencer campaigns.
Poppi told BI it would be rolling out vending machines "via events, social giveaways and nominations in the weeks to come," echoing an online apology from cofounder and chief brand officer Allison Ellsworth.
In response to the California wildfires, Tarte is hosting a trip for firefighters, first responders, EMTs, police, search and rescue, volunteers, and others impacted.
"Everything we do is rooted in making beauty more fun, inclusive, and accessible — not just for influencers, but for everyone," Tarte told BI in a statement.
In response to Poppi's backlash, coconut water brand Vita Coco hosted a similar activation in February — but for the public. The company handed out free drinks in Washington Square Park to promote its new beverage.
It's also possible that, on another level, the Poppi campaign was a win. Any visibility could be a plus for a nascent player in a market dominated by legacy brands like Coca-Cola and Pepsi that are increasingly encroaching on its territory.
"If I am Poppi on the brand side, to be completely honest, I am very excited about the overall results of this," Jun Poekert said. "As much as the media cycle has accelerated at a rapid pace, they are getting tons of visibility and optics from this."
February 20, 2025: This story was updated to include details on a Vita Coco campaign.
Mary Kate Morrissey said she was offered to perform the National Anthem at the NFC Championship game in her social media DMs.
Emilee Chinn/Getty Images
Broadway stars like Mary Kate Morrissey of "Wicked" are turning to influencing as a side gig.
At the same time, social-media creators are making their way to the stage.
Influencers have also become a marketing asset for some Broadway shows.
Mary Kate Morrissey, the current star of Broadway's "Wicked," didn't set out to become an influencer.
But her TikTok page began to grow wildly last year as anticipation for the movie adaptation mounted.
On TikTok, she started showing all the gadgets she uses to perform the demanding role of Elphaba, from mouth tape to vocal steamers to neck massagers. That's when fans requested she make an Amazon Storefront, where influencers can compile products and earn a commission on subsequent purchases.
Morrissey told Business Insider that the amount of business the Amazon Storefront did was "insane."
As her social following grew, brands came calling directly to hire her for influencer marketing. "Wicked" is protective of its brand, but she's threaded the needle by focusing on her offstage persona.
In one ad, Morrissey de-greenifies using a cleanser from Farmacy. She's done other deals with companies like the footwear brand Bared, antihistamine Allegra, and hotel giant Hilton.
"To have a gig that feels creative, that feels like it complements what we're already doing, that can keep the lights on, is totally worthy of attention," she said.
When her "Wicked" contract ends in March, she said she foresees influencing taking more of a "front seat" as she sets out on auditions.
As these Broadway stars are becoming influencers, some social-native creators are making their way to the stage. TikTok superstar Charli D'Amelio has an ensemble role in "& Juliet," which resulted in a ticket sales bump, while Trisha Paytas starred in a one-night show with Broadway veterans Sutton Foster and Ben Platt. Before them, influencers Colleen Ballinger, Todrick Hall, and Cameron Dallas appeared onstage.
Trisha Paytas at the premiere of her Broadway show.
Bruce Glikas/Getty Images
Celebrity casting transcends the influencer realm. Shows like "Grease" and "Chicago" have nabbed TV and movie stars over the years to generate buzz. Still, there's been stigma surrounding influencers by some within the Broadway community in the past, said the talent manager Paul Luckenbaugh of Select Management Group, who reps Morrissey and Niemann. However, he said producers are increasingly seeing it as a marketing asset.
"I'm adding value because people are going to feel like they're seeing their friend in a show," Morrissey said of building her social profile.
Luckenbaugh signed Niemann, his first client in the theater space, in 2020 after Broadway went dark. Grosses plummeted during the pandemic, and while the industry has been trending back up, it still hasn't completely recovered.
Broadway star and influencer JJ Niemann attends the Tony Awards.
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions
Luckenbaugh saw a financial opportunity, particularly for out-of-work actors. The minimum salary for a Broadway actor is $2,638 per week, and Luckenbaugh said influencers can make multiples of that amount in a single sponsored TikTok.
Select reps about 10 clients in the theater space, including current and aspiring performers. Niemann, for his part, has 1.1 million TikTok followers and has done partnerships with Raising Cane's and Lionsgate.
'Posting a TikTok doesn't even compare to standing on a stage'
For some influencers, being on Broadway isn't about money.
Jess Val Ortiz studied musical theater in college and became an influencer with 10.5 million TikTok followers. One day, she hopes to make it big on Broadway and get the role that Morrissey is currently playing.
She said she's grateful to make a living as a creator, but it can get lonely compared to the give-and-take of live theater and working alongside a cast.
"Standing in my living room and posting a TikTok doesn't even compare to standing on a stage and getting an applause," Ortiz said.
She just booked her first show in several years, a Los Angeles production called "One for My Baby."
"I want to be able to prove myself in the theatrical space," she said. "I want to earn it."
Luke Charles Stafford has played roles ranging from a werewolf to a British prince on the mini-drama app ReelShort.
Victor Curtis
Luke Charles Stafford is a popular actor for leading mini-drama purveyor ReelShort.
The feature-length sagas are divided into short clips that play in TikTok-like succession.
The scenarios are otherworldly, but for some, the career opportunities are real.
This as-told-to essay is based on a transcribed conversation with 30-year-old Luke Charles Stafford, based in Los Angeles, about his experiences on the burgeoning mini-drama circuit, which has its roots in China. In the US, popular platforms like ReelShort and DramaBox have climbed up Apple's free app charts. The following has been edited for length and clarity.
Growing up in the Midwest, I've dreamed of being an actor and musician since age three.
One of my first big jobs in college was a bit part in a Carrie Underwood music video. I moved to Hollywood in 2017 and started getting my foot in the door with a couple of Lifetime movies and even a Broadway show.
But just as my career was gaining steam, the industry slowed down because of the strikes.
On set, I remember being confused during the first couple of shots, because the camera was vertical. Later, I began researching the app, ReelShort — which is one of many that's sprouted up in the space. And when the series aired and got tens of millions of views, I grasped the impact.
Mini-dramas are feature-length soaps broken up into about 90 different segments, each roughly a minute long — and they play in succession, kind of like TikTok. People love the crazy scenarios. I've played everything from a werewolf to a billionaire to a British prince.
Right now, verticals are my primary source of income. It's the first time in my life that I've been able to lean completely on acting as a primary source of income — though I do still operate a fitness business, monetize my music, and regularly audition for other roles.
It's also helped amplify my social following from 4,000 Instagram followers in July to 28,000 today.
Finding the gold in the midst of craziness
A year later, I'm about to shoot my 12th vertical. At ReelShort, I'm part of a smaller roster of signed talent that's exclusive to the platform. We can't work with competitors — though I've gotten lots of offers — but we have free rein outside of the vertical space.
One of my craziest and most viral roles was in "Accidental Surrogate for Alpha." I played a werewolf who inadvertently impregnates what seems to be a human woman via insemination — who ultimately turns out to be another werewolf herself.
One of the challenges — and one of my biggest strengths, I've been told — is being able to ground the wild scenarios and crazy dialog into something human. There's a lot of joy finding the gold in the midst of such craziness.
Filming can be intense — not unlike what I've heard it's like on a traditional soap opera. It can take roughly nine days for a 90-page script.
And you might only get one or two takes, just because there's so much to do. ReelShort wants to get to the drama as quickly as possible because people tend to get hooked within the first 20 episodes.
I've shot in Atlanta, New York, and Los Angeles in rented mansions and greenscreen warehouses. They're even beginning to experiment with AI.
On set, there's a mix of corporate folks from China and local crews who work on other major sets. And production is ramping up. ReelShort is trying to get to a place where they can release one film per day.
For my part, I plan to stick with it for as long as it's working, but hope to eventually transition to traditional film. But because it's so popular, I can see bigger streaming platforms — like Netflix, Max, and Disney+ — starting to make vertical content themselves one day.
For years, streamers were hesitant to acquire creator-led shows, said Eyal Baumel, a partner at digital network Yoola, which works with kidfluencers like Like Nastya and Salish Matter.
But Baumel said streamers began to realize that licensing YouTube content could be an inexpensive way to snag shows that came with a built-in audience. Baumel called the success of Netflix's 2020 licensing deal with Cocomelon "a major turning point" that opened the door for future deals. (In addition to Cocomelon, Netflix syndicates content from other hit Moonbug properties like Blippi and Little Baby Bum.)
Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos recently contrasted YouTube fare with the "premium content" that's Netflix's specialty. But in some categories — whimsical kids' content, for example — those lines look a lot less clear.
Netflix declined to comment.
Netflix isn't the only streamer interested in licensing creator content. Baumel said Roku was an early and prolific licensor of creator-led kids' shows.
"Nastya is massive on Roku," he said.
Other streamers that have moved into this space include Hulu, Peacock, and Amazon Kids+.
"The formats of TV are beginning to meld," said Evan Shapiro, a media industry analyst. "More creator stuff is on big platforms because it's working, it's cheap, and you can move the audience around. Users are watching creator-led stuff on TV now."
Streamers are ramping up, but there still could be room to grow
Pocket.watch works with YouTube whizzes like Ryan's World and Love, Diana, and as part of its business, licenses their catalogs to streamers in the form of half-hour episodes.
It started working with Hulu in 2018 and now distributes on 43 streamers in 81 countries.
Pocket.watch SVP and GM of channels, David Williams, said that licensing deals vary in structure — from fixed fee to revenue sharing and other performance-related elements.
Williams said the company vets and optimizes YouTube content for streamers, where parents sometimes feel safer letting their kids watch because the content is curated.
"With Hulu, we've done a series of renewals where essentially our number of titles doubled every time," Williams said.
Pocket.watch works with some of the world's biggest kidfluencers.
Courtesy of pocket.watch
Williams said he felt there was still room to grow, however.
"We've been pushing the boulder up the hill, and there's been a lot of progress, but it doesn't feel quite like a revolution at this point," Williams said.
YouTube licensing could continue to move beyond kids
Though kids' content is the clearest category, it's not the only social-media fare streamers are interested in licensing. In September, Netflix picked up "The Amazing Digital Circus," a dark animated comedy born on YouTube.
Neil Waller, co-CEO of creator talent firm Whalar Group, said studios and streamers are looking at content in many categories, including comedy, horror, food, and travel. He added that they'd generally been interested in shorter-format, episodic shows.
In a big change in the past year, Waller said, the media companies' C-suiters are often coming to the meetings — a sign they're taking the space more seriously.
Down the road, it's not hard to imagine a studio or streamer building products or even experiences around creators.
"It's an obvious next place to go," Waller said. "These companies have the experience in making worlds around IP. They also have the distribution relationships. It's a lot of experience that can be brought to the table."
The 26-year-old influencer, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, attracted an audience of hundreds of millions of viewers by optimizing for YouTube's algorithm. From posting stunt videos, such as burying himself alive to localizing his content with roughly a dozen channels dubbed in different languages, his ability to draw eyeballs has laid the groundwork for a global media empire.Even after scaling up and signing a deal with Amazon, he's held on to creative control through a hyperfocused founder-mode ethos.
"Obsession: I think that's how you can summarize him," says Brendan Gahan, the founder of the marketing agency Creator Authority. "It's like he can talk about YouTube and very little else. His knowledge base is not typical of most people's; it's very narrow and very deep."
Donaldson's distaste for the conventions of big media companies has gotten him in trouble — accusations of poor conditions on MrBeast production sets and internal staffer misconduct have created serious headaches, which the company recently sought to address through an internal review. The YouTuber scaled up so quickly by "not playing by the rules," as one former staffer told Business Insider. But as traditional media companies lose eyeballs to user-generated-content platforms like YouTube and TikTok, the MrBeast model, untamed as it is, can offer some useful lessons for Hollywood: bring creators into traditional media productions, give them a real stake in the work, allow them to be themselves, and produce content at a pace and style that feeds the appetites of digital audiences.
To get insight into the MrBeast empire, we talked with media executives both in Hollywood and at companies focused on creators, as well as people who have worked directly with Donaldson. We also combed through Donaldson's public statements and internal company documents, including a leaked MrBeast employee guidebook and 163 slides from a set of brand decks included in court filings. From our analysis, we landed on three key insights for traditional media companies trying to adapt to the rapidly changing media landscape. MrBeast's style may not fit the tastes of Hollywood's elite, but they'd better start taking some notes on his successful strategies — or risk getting left behind.
MrBeast is perhaps the most visible face of the creator economy, a fast-growing subset of influencers, vloggers, and media moguls who are taking on — and in some cases blowing past — the traditional entertainment power players. With a total addressable market of $250 billion as of 2023, the creator economy is thought to account for about 10% of the global media and entertainment industry, which includes print media, Hollywood, gaming, music, and more. Meanwhile, moviegoing has been steadily declining for decades in the US: The attendance tracker nScreenMedia found that the average American bought about two movie tickets in 2023, down from five in 2003.
Doug Shapiro, a media industry veteran who's now a senior advisor at Boston Consulting Group, estimates that while the creator media economy is a relatively small portion of the total media and entertainment market, it has accounted for almost half the market's growth. "It's going to be impossible for the traditional media players to maintain their same market share or mindshare in this emerging content economy."
But how? Big media companies' forays into building their own creator networks or making creator-led shows have largely been misses. (See: Disney's ill-fated acquisition of the YouTube network Maker Studios or the poor ratings of the NBC talk show hosted by the online sensation Lilly Singh.) And media companies have been distracted by the collapse of their traditional TV networks and the urgent need for streaming profitability. But in a global fight for eyeballs — especially those of the next generation — both MrBeast and the creator economy more broadly can offer some lessons for traditional Hollywood.
Rethink how you reward talent
For most of their history, Hollywood companies have assumed all the risk — and all the reward — of making entertainment. Talent, for the most part, was paid in a work-for-hire arrangement. Actors showed up, hit their marks, and let the system work its magic. This made sense in a time of sky-high costs just for the equipment required to get anything on film. That's all changed. Nowadays, anyone with an iPhone and a half-decent microphone can become a bona fide star.
Creators like MrBeast have taken on more of the responsibility for creating and distributing their content directly to fans. Instead of being one part of a larger production controlled by a studio, they're the lead actor, producer, director, and studio chief. This comes with more risks if a video flops, but it also gives the new crop of media moguls a greater sense of ownership over their work. In an internal MrBeast production guidebook, which we verified with two former staffers, Donaldson emphasized the importance of this ownership. "This channel is my baby, and I've given up my life for it," he wrote. He advised staffers to "take ownership and don't give your project a chance to fail," adding: "Dumping your bottleneck on someone and then just walking away until it's done is lazy, and it gives room for error."
"YouTubers are so attached to their channels," a second former MrBeast staffer said. "They've built them through blood, sweat, and tears for decades." The staffer, along with other ex-employees in this story, spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect business relationships. Their identities are known to BI.
"This channel is my baby, and I've given up my life for it," Jimmy Donaldson, aka MrBeast, wrote in a guidebook to staff.
Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images
With a flood of new tech lowering the cost of content creation, studios should consider sharing more of the rewards with talent and offering them more developmental support. Some Hollywood A-listers have already begun to take new compensation models seriously: Ben Affleck and Matt Damon's production company, Artists Equity, is trying to remake the compensation system by giving performers less money upfront in exchange for a potential larger share of a project's post-release profits, among other models. This also creates a symbiotic relationship that can prevent frustrated stars from striking out on their own and heeding the siren call of YouTube.
Sharing some control with stars goes beyond finances. Creators who control their shows can get granular data, such as how many people subscribed to their channel and viewed and liked their videos, allowing them to better understand what their audience is gravitating toward. Legacy media and big tech entertainment companies, on the other hand, keep a tight grip on that information. While some studios may eschew giving up that level of data, younger creators might appreciate more generous information sharing.
"The cool thing about YouTube is they give us super detailed graphs for every video that show the exact second we lose a viewer on every single video," Donaldson wrote in his production guide. "Whether it is production, creative, or editing, you must always know what minute mark the content you are working on is. If you don't, then you're not doing it right."
Take a creator-like approach to content
Hollywood is used to making a movie or a season of a show and then making the audience wait a year or two for the next installation or sequel. Take "House of the Dragon," HBO's "Game of Thrones" spinoff, which was released about three years after the original series ended. That's not ideal for young people who have been conditioned by social media to have an ongoing connection with the creators they follow. Many of these new media figures post weekly or even daily. MrBeast, given his high production costs, posts once or twice a month on his main channel but more regularly uploads other formats, such as YouTube shorts. Corporate media must adapt to young watchers' voracious appetites or risk losing them as their audience.
The easiest place for old-school studios to try out this consistency is with reality TV and game shows — two formats tailor-made for short clips and a high volume of content. Britain's ITV recently struck a deal with YouTube to distribute hundreds of hours' worth of shows, including "Love Island" and "Vera." The deal also called for ITV to create clips, compilations, and fan content around the shows. Lionsgate and Sony are licensing shows and movies to Gaggl TV, a startup that distributes them to creators to watch with their followers on platforms like Amazon's Twitch. Adam Harris, a Gaggl TV cofounder, said this approach had been especially popular with game shows like "The Price Is Right" that have easy-to-follow formats and are interactive.
Traditional media doesn't think about the fact that if your first 30 seconds suck, people will click away.
Going beyond slicing and dicing existing shows, some in Hollywood are casting creators in original programming, blurring the distinction between social stars and traditional stars. Streamers such as Roku and Tubi are making films starring creators (Tubi's "Sidelined," for example, includes the TikToker Noah Beck) that can help them connect with young audiences.
"Over the last six months, the interest from platforms in top creators has undergone a total reversal," says David Freeman, head of digital media at CAA, the powerful talent agency. "From 2014 to 2020, it was nearly impossible to get their attention. Now they understand the undeniable need to cater to Gen Z — and that means creators have to be part of the next generation of IP."
As more digital streaming platforms start to look like YouTube, with thumbnails and recommendations for other videos, traditional media will also need to embrace some of the tricks that have helped creators maintain attention.
"Traditional media doesn't think about the fact that if your first 30 seconds suck, people will click away," the first former MrBeast staffer said. They added that directors would have to relinquish some creative flexibility in order to optimize their videos.
"This is the era of retention farming," the second ex-MrBeast employee said.
Stay true to the creator
While Hollywood has occasionally taken this advice and cast social media superstars like Lilly Singh and the D'Amelios in their own shows, it often makes the mistake of trying to fit these new-school personalities into an old-school format — a late-night talk show in Singh's case, or reality in the case of "Inside Eats with Rhett and Link."
Instead of trying to bring in new voices to enliven creaky concepts, Hollywood should expand its notion of what a show can look like. In 2014, Jonathan Skogmo's media company, Jukin Media, sold a version of its popular YouTube bloopers show, "FailArmy," to Fox. Skogmo says it worked because instead of trying to copy the network version of the format, Jukin hewed to the original more unpolished style. "We took what we did on YouTube and made a 20-minute show," he says.
I just want to do what makes me happy and ultimately the viewers happy.
In short, if you bring a creator like MrBeast to a traditional platform, let them be themselves (while making sure their set is up to code).
"If I'm not excited to get in front of that camera and film the video, it's just simply not going to happen," Donaldson wrote in his internal production guide. "I'm willing to count to one hundred thousand, bury myself alive, or walk a marathon in the world's largest pairs of shoes if I must. I just want to do what makes me happy and ultimately the viewers happy."
Traditional media companies must also let creators work authentically, even if it means spending more money than a budget-conscious production normally would. The former MrBeast staffers described that costs-are-no-object attitude as central to the MrBeast growth story.
Members of the MrBeast team "hold themselves accountable to making the best version of a thing," the first former staffer said. "They really care about doing shit right."
Hollywood doesn't need to adopt the creator approach wholesale — the new school can pick up a few things from the old school, too. Online media stars are increasingly professionalizing their output with help from Hollywood-trained talent and riffing on tried-and-true entertainment formats to make shows that could be at home on the big screen.
For a hit video inspired by the competition show "Big Brother," the YouTuber Airrack invited 25 strangers to compete in challenges in his house over two days; it got 22 million views. And industry watchers say Amazon's "Beast Games," the competition show hosted by Donaldson and his crew which capitalized on his fame to become the service's most-watched unscripted series ever, is just the beginning of a tighter merging of worlds. Netflix recently greenlighted a season of The Sidemen's YouTube reality series and launched a show by the kids educator Ms. Rachel — rare examples of YouTubers moving to a global TV platform.
"Creators want to embrace Hollywood to a degree and vice versa," CAA's Freeman said. "We're going to see more high-profile projects like 'Beast Games' coming from the streamers."
As much as MrBeast can teach Hollywood, it's clear his forays into traditional media are rubbing off on him. In a recent interview, Donaldson said he'd worked hard to improve his storytelling and didn't want to be thought of as "just a YouTuber that knows how to manipulate an algorithm."
And Hollywood, to its credit, is starting to meet fans on the platforms where they're spending time. Disney recently invested in Epic Games, hoping to promote its famous characters to gamers. Warner Bros. has started to use the popular gaming platform Roblox to promote film releases. These experiments have been limited by Hollywood's fear of losing control of how its IP is portrayed, but it would do well to embrace young people's desire to interact with the content, even if it means ignoring some unauthorized uses.
The lines between Hollywood and the creator economy are likely to blur over time. But as the creator economy grows, Hollywood must offer an attractive opportunity to creators or accept continued decline.
"The big question, though, is whether creators truly need the streamers when their audiences are overwhelmingly consuming content on platforms like YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok," Freeman says. "Time will tell."
Lucia Moses is a senior correspondent at Business Insider covering media and entertainment.
Geoff Weiss is a senior reporter on Business Insider's media team.
Dan Whateley is a senior reporter at Business Insider covering social media and the music business.
DEI will play a less prominent role at Disney in executive compensation.
JC Olivera/Getty Images
Disney is shifting its DEI work to focus on business goals and company values.
The changes will impact content disclaimers and how executive compensation is determined.
CEO Bob Iger has emphasized Disney's mission to entertain rather than advance an agenda.
Disney has become the latest company to make changes to its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts, as President Donald Trump's election has triggered a cultural shift across corporate America.
The company told employees in a memo from chief human resources officer Sonia Coleman that it was shifting DEI efforts to prioritize its business goals and company values, as Axios earlier reported. Business Insider confirmed the memo's authenticity.
The changes will also impact content advisory disclaimers that Disney began affixing to films in 2020, BI confirmed.
The memo said DEI would play a less prominent role when it comes to evaluating executive compensation, and the company is getting rid of Reimagine Tomorrow — a digital hub launched in 2021 to amplify underrepresented voices.
At the same time, Disney is rebranding its "Business" Employee Resource Groups (BERGs) into "Belonging" Employee Resource Groups, according to the memo.
Disney has previously found itself in the political crosshairs. For instance, Disney's former CEO, Bob Chapek, faced criticism from both the right and left over his delayed response to the so-called Don't Say Gay law in Florida.
CEO Bob Iger has spoken out against Trump in years past, though he's been quieter during the president's second term.
Disney has somewhat reversed its early embrace of diverse themes after getting hammered by critics on the right. At The New York Times' 2023 DealBook summit, Iger said his company's movies could sometimes be too focused on messaging over entertainment.
"I've used 'Black Panther' as a great example of that just in terms of fostering acceptance, or the movie 'Coco,' which Pixar did about the Day of the Dead," Iger said at the summit. "I like being able to do that, entertain and if you can infuse it with positive messages, have a good impact on the world, fantastic. But that should not be the objective."
Some close to Disney have predicted that in Trump's new term, the company could get even more conservative in its story treatment, lest it touch off another culture war battle.
Still, given its storied place in American culture, Disney seems unlikely to escape controversy. "Captain America: Brave New World" star Anthony Mackie was recently criticized for saying his character shouldn't just represent America (though he wasn't the first Captain America to do so). He has since clarified that he's a "proud American" while upholding the character's universal appeal.
Disney's upcoming live-action "Snow White" has also drawn controversy for reimagining the "seven dwarfs" as "magical creatures."
Here's the memo from Coleman:
Executive Leaders,
For over 100 years, Disney has entertained and inspired generations of families from all walks of life around the world. We create entertainment that appeals to a global audience, and having a workforce that reflects the consumers we serve helps drive our business. With more than 230,000 dedicated employees and Cast Members in more than 40 countries across six continents, Disney has long believed that the rich variety of talents and experiences our employees bring to their work is good for our business and enhances the experience of our global consumers, audiences, and guests.
Creating a welcoming and respectful environment for our employees and guests is core to our company culture and our business. Our values — integrity, creativity, collaboration, community, inclusion — guide our actions and how we treat each other. Today I want to provide an update on how our values are embedded in our leader compensation programs, specifically our Other Performance Factors (OPFs), as well as share some of the work that has been underway to evolve our talent strategy consistent with these values.
Other Performance Factors (OPFs): Beginning this fiscal year, we are adding a new "Talent Strategy" factor to our executive compensation planning. This factor will assess how leaders uphold our company values, incorporate different perspectives to drive business success, cultivate an environment where all employees can thrive, and sustain a robust pipeline to ensure long-term organizational strength. This new factor represents an evolution of important concepts in the former Diversity & Inclusion OPF and will be used alongside our other two OPFs, "Storytelling & Creativity" and "Synergy."
As many of you know, we have spent the last year partnering with stakeholders across the company to discuss the evolution of our strategic framework for advancing our commitment to being welcoming, respectful, and inclusive in how we operate so we are the best place to work. The resulting framework — which we released in December — is designed to align our initiatives with our business goals and company values, centered around four key pillars:
People: We reach and attract the best, most talented people around the world and foster barrier-free talent processes for everyone.
Culture: We purposefully champion a culture where everyone belongs and can contribute to our business success.
Market Reach: We create unforgettable stories, experiences, and products that entertain and resonate globally.
Community: We learn from and support under-served communities by establishing and investing in impactful relationships with organizations and business stakeholders.
As we developed this new framework, we looked at ways to enhance our programs and practices to strengthen our workplace environment, in service of our business.
While some of you are already familiar with what's new, we wanted to highlight some of the key developments:
New Online Destination: In December, we added our new framework to our corporate Impact website and the Belong hub on MyDisneyToday, with a focus on our above pillars and continued progress. This new framework, rooted in our efforts to enhance our employee experience, marks the evolution of the significant work done with Reimagine Tomorrow and succeeds that branding.
Employee Groups: Last year, we began the process of unifying and streamlining our global enterprise-wide Belonging Employee Resource Groups (BERGs) structure, and rebranded the "B" in BERG from "Business" to "Belonging" to highlight that our employee groups' role is focused on strengthening our employee community and workplace experience.
While this will continue to evolve, what won't change is our commitment to fostering a company culture where everyone belongs and everyone can excel, enabling us to deliver the globally appealing entertainment that drives our business.
A top talent agent said that in conversations in recent months, Netflix insiders had warmed to the idea of tapping podcasting talent to host a talk-based video show, after previously expressing skepticism that the format could work on the platform.
"More recently, they are exploring: Is this doable? Which one would make sense for us? They ask about specific names," the agent said. "It's a way to get an amazing volume of content at a fraction of what they pay for scripted and unscripted budgets." This person, along with some other industry insiders, spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect business relationships; their identities are known to BI.
Netflix looked into doing a deal with Alex Cooper of "Call Her Daddy" fame, two people familiar with the talks told BI.
Antony Jones/Getty Images for Spotify
Netflix's past forays into talk-style shows have generally revolved around comedians and have often been short-lived. The streamer has not abandoned that approach, though. Last month, Netflix announced that it signed John Mulaney to a 12-week-long show, "Everybody's Live With John Mulaney." This follows the six-week "John Mulaney Presents: Everybody's in LA" and other projects Mulaney has had with the streamer.
The effort to sign podcasters, however, is an indication of Netflix's general warming to the idea of working with creators, industry insiders told BI. In recent months, Netflix has welcomed YouTube-born creators, including the entertainers the Sidemen and the kids educator Ms Rachel, to its platform.
Video podcasts could be a natural extension of that effort.
"I could see a world in which audio only and vodcasts are streamed on Netflix so that they can offer an all-in-one place to keep users on their platform for everything," said Jessica Cordova Kramer, a cofounder of Lemonada Media, which works with Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Meghan Markle on their podcasts.
Video podcasts can appeal to Netflix and other streamers because they are cheaper than traditional TV shows, their regular release schedules can build a habit, and they can boost ad revenue by adding additional inventory.
"We have spoken with multiple streamers looking to partner with us for licensed content," Cordova Kramer said.
Podcasts are increasingly being watched
Netflix is no doubt seeing how YouTube has become the top platform for podcasts. It beat out Spotify and Apple as of the fourth quarter of 2024, Edison Research found. Creators such as Tana Mongeau and Logan Paul, in turn, are chasing the podcast boom by creating their own shows, which has helped expand their business through touring, merch, and more.
Many podcasts, especially those of the talk variety, also now have video components. Edison found that 89% of weekly Gen Z podcast listeners watched (or listened to) podcasts with video as of the end of 2024. YouTube said people watched 400 million hours of podcasts on televisions in 2024 via its platform.
This trend has drawn the format closer to the daytime and late-night talk shows that have been on TV for decades, said Ray Chao, Vox Media's senior vice president and general manager for audio and digital video.
Chao said that TV companies other than Netflix had already sought out talk shows that began in the digital realm. He pointed to Pat McAfee at ESPN and "Hot Ones" at Hulu. Chao declined to comment on Vox Media's active business opportunities in the space.
The "SmartLess" podcast — hosted by Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, and Sean Hayes — spawned a tour docuseries on Max.
Cindy Ord/Getty Images for SiriusXM
Industry insiders said more streamers entering the fray could be a boon for the podcast industry.
"Podcasting has sort of been through a lot the last 18 months," the Pave Studios founder Max Cutler said, citing Apple's iOS 17 update, which changed podcast downloads and impacted ads. "Having someone like Netflix come in will really help grow the overall pie of listenership and viewership."
What does Netflix want?
Industry insiders said they see Netflix deals going a few ways. Netflix could license existing podcasts and forego exclusivity, as it did with "The Amazing Digital Circus," a popular YouTube show that came to Netflix in October.
Netflix may also want to have something unique, three people familiar with its efforts said. In the case of Cooper, Netflix expressed interest in creating original shows around the star, one of the people familiar with the talks said. A model could be something like Max's "SmartLess: On The Road," a show based on Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, and Sean Hayes' popular podcast.
Netflix could even want shows all to itself — or at least exclusively for a certain time period before they're available on YouTube. It could also offer subscribers an ad-free version as an advantage over the YouTube version, or seek out ancillary content from hosts beyond the core podcast property.
None of the insiders who spoke with BI thought Netflix was on the verge of challenging YouTube anytime soon. But some saw a day when Netflix might offer a creator-led section or free version of its service, which could eat into YouTube's dominance.
One challenge in the short term: Netflix will likely want to enter the podcast business with the biggest creators, and there aren't many available.
Notables like Cooper, the "SmartLess" guys, and Dax Shepard have already been snapped up in eye-popping deals. One candidate is Kylie Kelce, Jason Kelce's wife, who at one point passed Joe Rogan as the most popular on Apple and Spotify. Or Netflix might look to those who could build on its comedy vertical, like Tony Hinchcliffe, who hosted Netflix's "Netflix Is a Joke" comedy festival.
Still, industry insiders generally said they felt it was only a matter of time before more of these deals got done.
"If the first round of huge podcast expansion and acquisitions came from the Spotifys, the Siriuses, the Amazons of the world, the next round is probably going to come from the streamers," Cutler said.
Disclosure: Mathias Döpfner, the CEO of Business Insider's parent company, is a Netflix board member.
Halara, a women's activewear brand, said it was pausing some sponsorship campaigns until March, citing concerns about the business impact of new US tariffs, per an email sent to a talent manager and viewed by Business Insider.
The fast-fashion retailer Shein informed one talent manager through an agency that it was temporarily pausing collaborative videos. It told another it was deferring new campaign offers, saying the move was specific to creators with US audiences. In both instances, the company cited the US tariffs as the reason for its pause.
The talent managers spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect their future business dealings. Their identities are known to BI.
Fashion brands that rely on Chinese manufacturing are some of the first to be affected by President Donald Trump's tariff policies.
In its email, Halara said it would spend the next few weeks changing its warehouse strategy to adapt to US tariff policies. The company advised its influencers not to shoot any videos before March, as the products they're meant to promote may change by that point.
Halara and Shein did not respond to requests for comment from BI.
Whether the pause affects some or all of the brands' US influencer-marketing spending was unclear.
Halara, founded in 2020 by Joyce Zhang, has leaned heavily on social media and influencers to build its business. The company has a big presence on TikTok; it has sold about 125,000 items through the app's e-commerce feature, Shop. The company runs an ambassador program for influencers and offers affiliate commissions to creators who boost sales.
Shein similarly leans on creators to drive up sales, sponsoring influencer trips and running an affiliate program offering up to 20% commissions.
Trump, in a February 1 executive order, imposed an additional 10% tariff on all Chinese goods and a 25% tariff on items from Canada and Mexico. Tariffs on the latter two countries have been paused.
Trump's order also removed a tax loophole known as the de minimis exemption that allowed brands like Shein and Temu to cheaply send goods to US consumers from China. Last week Trump delayed removal of the exemption to give the Commerce Department more time to prepare.
Mylen Yamamoto Tansingco, the CEO of the influencer talent management firm Clique-Now, said her client's brand campaigns had not been directly affected by the tariffs. But she said she was "anticipating a snowball effect" where increased pricing leads to less consumer spending, which then lowers marketing budgets.
The trade wars may creep into other parts of the creator economy
Influencer marketers aren't the only ones in the industry bracing for impact.
The creator agency The Network Effect works with a Chinese manufacturer for its Beyond Lost streetwear brand, founded by the influencer Alyssa McKay. The agency's cofounder Brian Nelson said the political back-and-forth posed daily worries.
"Currently we have a pretty big shipment for us on a boat on the way over" via UPS, Nelson said. "If any of this kicks into gear with China, we don't even know who pays what when it gets here."
The Network Effect is seeking to diversify its manufacturing partners and plans to eat any immediate tariff-related costs. But Nelson said the business "wouldn't be fine in a long-term scenario" without changes.
Canada is also an open question for the agency — though tariffs are paused — as it is Beyond Lost's second-biggest consumer market after the US. (Goods ship from its Chinese manufacturer to the US and then to Canada upon sale.)
"You have to look at the headlines every day to kind of see where the hockey puck's moving," Brian Mandler, the agency's other cofounder, said.
If you know more about the recent impact of US tariffs on influencer marketing contact the author at [email protected] or through the encrypted messaging app Signal (+1 646-768-4720).
On top of that, Fox already has a paid streaming service, Fox Nation, which launched in 2018 and is stocked with right-wing commentary and lifestyle content focused on history, faith, crime, and military. Fox also has Tubi, a general-interest free streamer.
So, why is it launching a new one? In a nutshell, Fox seems to be trying to wring a small amount of additional value out of the programming it already puts on cable TV.
On an earnings call Tuesday, Murdoch said the forthcoming general-interest streamer, which he didn't name, would target "cord-cutters and cord-nevers." He reiterated the importance of Fox's cable business.
"Our subscriber expectation will be modest, and we're going to price the service accordingly," Murdoch added.
Two analysts told Business Insider that Fox's streaming service could serve as a good backup plan now that it has abandoned sports-focused Venu, its previously planned joint venture with Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery.
"That's what the market, I think, has wanted — that kind of consolidation," said Joseph Bonner, a senior securities analyst at Argus Research. "It didn't work, so now Fox has got to go it alone."
A Fox spokesperson told BI that the stand-alone streamer was part of the company's initial direct-to-consumer plan.
A 'low-risk' strategy
David Joyce, a senior equity analyst at Seaport Research, said Fox's streaming service "doesn't seem to have an obvious hole in the marketplace that needs to be filled." But he said it's a "low-risk" strategy given the company won't be spending any further on sports rights.
Sports will be a key differentiator from Fox Nation, though Fox's offer — which includes college football, Sunday afternoon NFL, NASCAR, and others — is somewhat fragmented, Joyce said. But, he added, "there's going to be minimal incremental costs because they already have the rights."
In a note Tuesday, MoffettNathanson wrote the streamer could tee up Fox for future leverage.
"Fox can now use this new DTC service as a tool for future negotiations with linear Pay TV distributors, vMVPDs, and even other streaming services," the company wrote.
Fox's stock was up Tuesday largely on the strength of better-than-expected advertising and affiliate fees, Joyce said.
A mega-bundle of streaming services could soon materialize, TD Cowen analysts predict.
The analysts argue it's a better model for traditional media companies and customers alike.
However, market leader Netflix may not need to bundle — at least in the short term.
Traditional media companies that have launched stand-alone streaming services should pivot hard, TD Cowen analysts argued in a recent report.
The analysts say Warner Bros. Discovery, Disney, and Paramount should return to the wholesale business rather than continuing to build direct-to-consumer products.
Their overall vision is a "mega-streaming bundle" distributed by Apple, Amazon, Google, or cable companies like Comcast.
"Everyone's producing more content than they used to," Doug Creutz, a senior research analyst at TD Cowen, told Business Insider. "Everyone's advertising for their content more than they used to, and consumer dollars haven't increased that much."
A bundle would help players spread the risks associated with content marketing and production. Creutz said he foresees a bundle happening in the next two to three years.
"Bundling is the right way to go," Wedbush Securities managing director Michael Pachter told BI, similarly predicting a three-year timeframe. Pachter said a bundle would aid content discovery in a fragmented content landscape and make subscriptions stickier.
TD Cowen predicted that WBD and Disney would see single-digit DTC profitability in 2025 and that Paramount and Comcast would reduce their DTC losses.But Creutz said the picture isn't improving enough to make these DTC efforts the best path forward. He said Disney+ had already expanded into essentially all the markets it can — though its standalone ESPN product remains an open question — and Comcast and Paramount still aren't close to DTC profitability.
Creutz added that streaming services are trying to reach profitability by variously cutting spending, increasing ad loads, and raising prices.
"You're heading to a place where the consumer experience is getting significantly worse," Creutz said.
A potential obstacle to Netflix's world domination
The big player that doesn't need to bundle imminently is Netflix, which appears to be the clear winner of the streaming wars. (Apple and Amazon exist somewhat separately, Creutz added, given their streamers are tied to other business objectives.)
Netflix recently reached a larger market cap than Comcast, Disney, Paramount, Fox, and WBD combined, as media analyst Rich Greenfield noted.
A Netflix spokesperson pointed BI to its Q3 shareholder letter, which said the breadth of its content made bundling unnecessary — unlike for competitors.
That doesn't mean Netflix couldn't be impacted by a potential mega-bundle, however. Creutz said that while Netflix has a "huge advantage" competing against streamers individually, a mega-bundle "could be an obstacle to their path to world domination."
And Pachter said bundling could be welcomed by Netflix if the streamer could dictate the terms.
Disney is another company that complicates the picture. Creutz said the Mouse House harbors ambitions of being the last man standing with Netflix, and if its stand-alone ESPN product succeeds, "then I think their need for other people diminishes." Disney also offers its own in-house bundle of Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+.
Creutz acknowledged that assembling a bundle would be difficult, likening it to "herding cats." Other outstanding factors include David Ellison's plans at Paramount, and the speed of linear TV deterioration.
There could also be regulatory challenges. TD Cowen referred to recent developments at Venu as "a step backwards," after ESPN, Fox, and WBD killed the sports streaming venture amid legal headwinds.
For his part, Pachter said he felt a bundle hadn't happened yet because of inertia.
"Everybody's too inwardly focused and looking at the past," he said.
President Donald Trump is serving his second term as president.
JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images
Donald Trump is now America's 47th president and serving his second term.
From his marriages to real estate to the presidency, he's captured the public's attention.
Here's all you need to know about Trump's family, real estate business, and career in politics.
Donald Trump is president — again.
After his inauguration on January 20, 2025, the businessman and former reality television star commenced his second term. Long a fixture of the American cultural scene and now the 45th and 47th president of the United States, he will continue to have untold political influence.
Trump first entered politics in June 2015 when he descended an escalator at Trump Tower in New York City and announced he was entering the 2016 presidential race. Trump's presidency altered the very fabric of the Republican Party, bucking some traditional conservative values and ushering in the MAGA — Make America Great Again — era.
Here's a closer look at Trump's personal history and wide-ranging career.
Donald Trump's second presidency
Starting on his very first moments in office, Trump signed a flurry of day one executive orders and rescinded many of former President Joe Biden's executive actions.
Trump's earliest actions built on themes from his campaign, from an immigration crackdown, to increasing oil and gas production, to shrinking the federal workforce and calling employees back to the office. He signed a series of orders rolling back diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, demanding that government-run diversity offices shut down and green-lighting probes into private companies' DEI efforts. He also issued around 1,500 pardons for January 6-related offenses included six commutations in the package, including for individuals who had been charged with seditious conspiracy.
Trump also used an executive order to form the Department of Government Efficiency, Elon Musk's cost-cutting and deregulatory body. Despite saying the group would exist outside of government during the campaign, the executive order brought DOGE inside the White House.
Tech and corporate leaders beyond Musk have also featured prominently in Trump's second term, with some formally serving in his administration. Silicon Valley leaders, including Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos, had prime spots at his inauguration.
Congress also confirmed a number of Trump's more controversial Cabinet picks, including Pete Hegseth for defense secretary. Marco Rubio soared to confirmation as the secretary of state in a unanimous vote. One of Trump's most contentious nominees, former Rep. Matt Gaetz for attorney general, withdrew from consideration amid allegations of sex-trafficking.
Donald Trump's 2024 presidential campaign and defeat of Kamala Harris
Trump announced his third presidential bid just after the 2022 midterms, and almost two years before election day in 2024. He easily beat his primary rivals and prepared for a rematch against Biden.
Trump complained when Biden dropped out of the presidential race at the end of July and former vice president Kamala Harris soared to the top of the ticket. Polls showed Trump and Harris closely tied in the final days of the race, though Trump ultimately pulled off a comfortable victory, sweeping the seven swing states and winning 312 electoral votes to Harris' 226. He also won the popular vote — the first time a Republican has done so in 20 years.
While surveys suggested Biden's unpopularity may have proven unsurmountable for Harris, other stats showed how younger voters tilted red, Latino voters increasingly backed Trump, and economic frustrations likely pushed the needle in his favor, too.
Additionally, Republicans regained Senate control and maintained control of the House, paving the way for Trump to make judicial appointments and fill any vacancies on the Supreme Court.
Trump won a decisive victory against Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
The election cycle was defined by political violence: There were two alleged assassination attempts against Trump, one in Pennsylvania and the other in Florida. The then-candidate survived both.
On July 13, Thomas Matthew Crooks shot at Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, nicking his ear using an AR-style rifle. A Secret Service sniper killed Crooks, whose motive for the shooting remains unclear. The first assassination attempt quickly became a rallying cry for Trump supporters, and Elon Musk endorsed the former president shortly after.
The second assassination attempt occurred on Sept. 15 in Palm Beach, Florida at a golf course. Ryan Wesley Routh, the suspect, may have staked out the course for 12 hours. Law enforcement officials said that Routh got close to Trump but didn't have a clear line of sight of the former president. They also said that a Secret Service agent spotted Routh's rifle through a fence and immediately opened fire, at which point the suspect fled. On September 16, Routh was charged with two firearms counts.
Donald Trump is rushed offstage during a rally in Pennsylvania after an attempted assassination.
In terms of the economy, a top issue for many voters, Trump promised to extend his hallmark 2017 tax cuts and eliminate taxes on tips. He also threatened broad 10 to 20% tariffs on imported goods, which economists predicted would fuel inflation.
Trump's views on abortion were a sticky subject in the post-Roe environment. He took credit for overturning Roe v. Wade during the race but tempered his stance to appeal to rising pro-choice sentiment. Trump said that states should decide the laws around abortion and didn't publicly supported a federal ban. In August, Trump said that the federal government should pay for costly IVF treatments.
Trump criticized Israel's actions in Gaza at times but portrayed himself as a strong defender of the Israeli state and hosted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Mar-a-Lago. A temporary cease-fire between Israel and Gaza went into effect days before Trump took office for the second time.
With respect to the war in Ukraine, Trump repeatedly said he could end the war on Day One, though did not do so on his first day in office. He avoided explicitly saying that he wants Ukraine to win during the campaign.
Donald Trump's controversies and legal woes
Donald Trump's legal troubles stretch back to the very beginning of his business career. In 1973, the US Justice Department sued Fred and Donald Trump for allegedly violating the Fair Housing Act in various New York City apartment buildings. The parties settled the suit two years later and the Trumps did not admit to any wrongdoing.
Trump's political rise is backlit by controversy as well, from the personal scandals that have plagued his candidacies to his new status as the first former president convicted of a federal crime. The FBI investigated Russian interference in the 2016 election, but ultimately concluded that there wasn't sufficient evidence to prove that "members of the Trump campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government." Yet the report did find "numerous links" between the two groups.
While in office during his first term, Trump was impeached twice by the House of Representatives, but the Senate acquitted him both times.
The chamber first impeached him in 2019 on articles charging him with abuses of power and obstruction of justice. He is accused of offering Ukraine a quid-quo-pro: dig up dirt on Biden in exchange for military aid.
The second impeachment articles relate to his ongoing efforts to overturn the 2020 election and actions on January 6, 2021, when a violent mob stormed the Capitol. As lawmakers convened to certify the election results, Trump encouraged his supporters to attend a rally in DC to protest the joint session of Congress. Thousands showed up, including some from white supremacist groups and right-wing militias.
When speaking to the crowd, Trump did not explicitly call for violence, but encouraged his followers to "fight like hell" — many of those same followers stormed the Capitol moments later, overwhelming police and forcing lawmakers to flee. Five people died during or shortly after the event, including a Capitol police officer.
Congress reconvened to certify the election results in the early hours of January 7 and Biden was inaugurated on January 20, 2021. Meanwhile, Trump continues to deny that he lost the election in 2020, refusing to admit defeat.
The House of Representatives impeached Trump over his actions on Jan. 6.
Kent Nishimura
After he left office, an avalanche of lawsuits against Trump piled up, many of which arestalled or are no longer being pursued after the election.
The former president has been charged in four criminal cases: a federal election interference case, a classified documents case, a Georgia election interference case, and a hush-money case. Trump had used money from two of his PACs to pay his legal fees.
In the federal election interference case, special prosecutor Jack Smith accusedTrump of engaging in a broad effort to undermine Biden's 2020 win. Smith argued that Trump amplified false claims about voter fraud, pressured elected officials, and organized fake electors. He dropped the case after the 2024 election, but filed a report shortly before the inauguration saying that Trump would have been convicted if he hadn't won another term.
Smith also led the charge on a federal case accusing Trump of storing sensitive national security documents at Mar-a-Lago after removing them from the White House, and impeding the government from retrieving the documents. A Trump-appointed judge in Florida dismissed the case over highly controversial allegations that Smith's special counsel appointment was unconstitutional, a finding Smith's office appealed. The case was also ultimately dismissed after the election.
On May 30, 2024, Trump was convicted of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to hush-money payments made to Stormy Daniels, a porn star who alleges she had an affair with Trump. With the guilty verdict, Trump became the first former president to be convicted of a crime.
On January 10, 2025, the judge in that case sentenced Trump, cementing his felon status. The president did not receive any punishment, but the decision set off a new slate of legal questions, as Trump has pledged to appeal his criminal conviction.
Georgia's election interference case focused specifically on Trump's alleged attempts to overturn Biden's win in the state. District Attorney Fani Willis charged Trump and allies in August of 2023, though the case shrunk in scope and a judge dismissed several counts against Trump. The case was mired in scandals involving Willis' personal life, and her team was eventually disqualified. Willis is appealing the decision, which could take months. If Willis wins the appeal, she'll have to wait until Trump finishes his second term to re-start the case.
In addition to the criminal trials, a jury found Trump guilty of sexual abuse in a civil case brought by E. Jean Carroll. The saga, which has extended over two suits, related to Carroll's allegation that Trump raped her in a Manhattan department store and subsequently made defamatory statements. Together, they resulted in a verdict granting Carroll damages of $88.3 million. Trump appealed the cases but a jury upheld one of the verdicts in December, 2025. A spokesperson for Trump told BI he plans to keep appealing the verdict, which could keep the $5 million that Trump owes Carroll through that case frozen.
Trump is facing four criminal lawsuits and is the first former president to be convicted of a crime.
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
Donald Trump's political rise and the 2016 election
An ubiquitous presence in American life since the 1980s, Trump floated running for president since his early days as a businessman. People generally didn't take him seriously, and his political affiliations flip-flopped — he went from being a registered Democrat, to a registered Republican, to the front man for a remade American conservatism.
In 2012, Trump gained prominence in Republican circles for popularizing the "birther" theory — the racist and false claim that former President Barack Obama was not born in the United States. And in the summer of 2015, the prospect of a Trump presidential bid became much more real when he announced his candidacy at a campaign rally in New York City.
Throughout the 2016 campaign, Trump positioned himself as a political outsider and built his platform around economic prosperity, immigration, and a newly combative rhetoric. His campaign was mired in controversy — from the Access Hollywood tape where he bragged about groping women to his failure to quickly denounce the KKK — but he appealed to a wide swath of Americans.
Despite doing poorly in the early Iowa caucus, Trump triumphed in a series of primary wins and had a strong performance on Super Tuesday. After becoming the Republican nominee, Trump trailed Hillary Clinton in the polls but ended up victorious on November 8, 2016. He lost the popular vote by more than 2.8 million but won 304 electoral votes to Clinton's 227.
Trump shocked the country when he won the 2016 presidential election.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Donald Trump's first presidency
Once in the White House, Trump was quick to issue a slate of executive orders based on his campaign promises, including building a wall on the southern border and implementing his proposed "Muslim ban," which quickly faced legal challenges.
While running for office, Trump promised to repeal the Affordable Care Act, but doing so proved difficult and contentious, so he instead chipped away at the law. He also repealed many Obama-era environmental policies and withdrew from the Paris Climate Agreement because he said it damaged the economy.
Trump took an isolationist approach to foreign policy, imposing tariffs and withdrawing from revising long-standing trade agreements. On the economy, Trump pushed a $1.5 trillion tax cut package through Congress. Regarding the Supreme Court, he appointed three conservative judges and took credit for overturning Roe v. Wade.
By his final years in office, Trump was both president and candidate — he launched his reelection bid in June 2019. The COVID-19 pandemic upended both the election and spelled the end of Trump's presidency. President Joe Biden had accused him throughout the election of ignoring the crisis. Trump came down with COVID-19 himself during the final weeks of the campaign and received treatment at Walter Reed Medical Center.
When election day finally rolled around, Trump eventually lost both the popular and Electoral College votes. The race was extremely close in key states and took days to call. Trump declared victory one day after the election, before all the votes were tallied, and thus inaugurated his months-long campaign contesting the election results.
After leaving office in January 2021, Trump and Melania moved to Mar-a-Lago, where he has lived since leaving the White House.
During Trump's presidency, he passed a slate of controversial executive orders to fulfill campaign promises.
Chip Somodevilla
Donald Trump's various marriages and children
Donald Trump has a marital history marked by various divorces and alleged affairs.
He met his first wife, Czech model Ivana Marie Zelníčková, in 1976 when she was in New York City for a fashion show. The two got married in 1977 and remained a fixture of the city's tabloid scene. They had three children together: Ivanka, Donald Jr., and Eric.
Rumors about Trump having affairs swirled throughout the marriage, including with American actor Marla Maples. Ivana and Trump divorced in 1992.
One year later, Maples had Trump's fourth child, Tiffany. The couple got married two months later but split up in 1999.
Trump's current wife, Melania Trump (née Knauss), is a Slovenian-American former model whom he met in 1998 at a mutual friend's party. The two dated on and off before tying the knot in 2004 at Mar-a-Lago. The star-studded guest list included the Clintons and Billy Joel.
Trump's fifth child, Barron Trump, was born in 2006. When Trump moved into the White House, Melania and Barron waited months before joining him at the residence.
In addition to his five children, Trump has 10 grandkids. The oldest, Kai, has already stepped onto the political scene and even spoke at the 2024 Republican National Convention.
Trump has been married three times. His current wife is Melania Trump.
In November 2023, his personal physician said measures of his physical health were within the normal range but did not provide details about his medication, blood pressure, or cholesterol. Standing at a reported height of 6 feet 3 inches, some have expressed concern about Trump's weight in the past.
His parents, real estate developer Fred Trump and Mary MacLeod, met at a party and got married in 1936. They had five children, with Donald Trump being their fourth. He attended a Presbyterian church as a child but doesn't appear to regularly attend church services.
Fred Trump made much of his fortune in New York City real estate and was the subject of a US Senate investigation related to taking advantage of a federal loan program.
As a teenager, Donald Trump attended New York Military Academy, a private military school. After graduating, he attended Fordham University in the Bronx for two years before eventually switching to the Wharton School of Finance and Economics at the University of Pennsylvania. Trump graduated from Wharton with a bachelor's degree in economics and talks about his time at the prestigious institution often.
Trump grew up in Queens, New York.
NICHOLAS KAMM/Getty Images
Donald Trump's career in business and reality television
After graduating from college, Trump began working for his father and eventually became the president of a collection of family-owned companies that he later turned into the Trump Organization. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Trump expanded his father's business and invested in Manhattan hotels. He was buoyed along by financial and social help from his father, whose New York connections ran deep.
In 1983, Trump opened Trump Tower on 56th Street and 5th Avenue, where he later had an apartment. That same decade, Trump started investing in casinos and bought Mar-a-Lago, his resort in Palm Beach, Florida.
The 1990s recession harmed Trump's businesses and he was forced to sell various assets, as well as commit to a personal budget. His luck largely changed by the end of the 1990s, though his casinos continued to struggle.
Trump profited from his name throughout his long business career, selling everything from branded cologne and steaks to putting his name on an online education company. In 2018, The New York Times published a lengthy investigation detailing how Fred Trump funneled money to his son. The outlet reported Donald Trump received the equivalent of $413 million from his dad by the early 2000s. (Trump declined the Times's request for comment on the article at the time; a Trump spokesman at the time said there had been no fraud or tax evasion.)
In 1996, Trump teamed up with NBC to buy the Miss Universe Organization, which encompasses the Miss Universe, Miss USA, and Miss Teen USA beauty pageants. Trump then starred in a reality television show of his own — "The Apprentice." The Emmy-nominated program made him nearly $200 million over 16 years and boosted his image as a self-made billionaire.
Trump's net worth was $3.8 billion as of September 2024, according to Forbes's calculations.
In addition to starring in "The Apprentice," Trump owned the Miss Universe and Miss USA pageants.
Sherwood has joined several digital publishers that have cut staff this year.
Illustration by Piotr Swat/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
Robinhood's media arm, Sherwood, has laid off staff.
"We made the decision to streamline team structure," a spokesperson said.
Sherwood joins several media companies that have conducted layoffs this year.
Sherwood, the media arm of the financial tech giant Robinhood, has laid off staff.
Sherwood joins several other publishers that have cut staff this year, including NBC News, CNN, TechCrunch, and Vox.
"Over the past 18 months, Sherwood has hired dozens of journalists, launched new products, and acquired the newsletter brand Chartr," a Robinhood spokesperson told Business Insider in a statement. "As we built out our 2025 strategy, we made the decision to streamline team structure."
The spokesperson declined to say how many employees were impacted but said it was a small percentage of Sherwood's staff.
"Moving forward, Sherwood is focused on expanding its operations around timely, breaking markets news as we build through 2025," the spokesperson added.
Robinhood unveiled its media arm in 2023 under the Sherwood branding. It was set up as an independent subsidiary led by the journalist and entrepreneur Joshua Topolsky, who serves as its editor-in-chief and president.
Axios reported that when the Sherwood News website launched in April 2024, the outlet had roughly three dozen employees, including two dozen veteran journalists from Bloomberg, The New York Times, Axios, and Gawker.
Sherwood's editorial focus includes markets, tech, and "the culture of money."
The website features a section dedicated to Snacks, the popular newsletter Robinhood acquired in 2019. Robinhood also purchased Chartr, a data-driven newsletter publisher focused on visual storytelling, in 2023.
