Headline & intro
Creators are no longer just competing for views — they’re competing with Nestlé and neobanks. When MrBeast’s company can buy a fintech startup and earn more from chocolate than from YouTube itself, the creator economy has quietly crossed a line: influence is turning into infrastructure. This shift won’t stay confined to the top 1% of YouTubers. It will reshape how products are built, financed and regulated — including in Europe, where consumer and financial rules are far stricter than in the U.S. In this piece, we’ll unpack what TechCrunch’s latest reporting signals, who should be nervous, and how far this new playbook can really scale.
The news in brief
According to TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, the creator economy is rapidly moving beyond traditional advertising and brand deals. The discussion centers on how top YouTubers and social media stars are building full-fledged companies, launching physical product lines and even acquiring startups.
The clearest example: MrBeast (Jimmy Donaldson). As reported by TechCrunch, his company has acquired fintech startup Step, and his chocolate brand Feastables is now generating more revenue than his media operation. The Equity hosts frame this as part of a broader trend: creators using their massive audiences to build durable businesses that aren’t at the mercy of algorithm changes or ad rates.
The episode also touches on other startup stories — from a dating app focused on one weekly match to India’s AI infrastructure push — but the central question for the creator economy is whether this company-building model can work beyond a handful of mega-stars.
Why this matters
The old creator playbook was simple: grow an audience, then monetise with AdSense, brand deals and maybe some merch. That model is fragile. Ad revenue is cyclical, brand deals are fickle and platforms can change rules overnight. Moving into products and acquisitions is, at its core, a risk-hedging strategy.
For top creators, the upside is enormous. Instead of renting their audience to brands, they become the brand. MrBeast’s acquisition of Step isn’t just a quirky headline; it’s a signal that distribution has become a strategic asset powerful enough to justify buying regulated, capital-intensive businesses. Feastables out-earning his media arm shows where the profit pools really are: not in content, but in what content can sell.
The losers? Traditional consumer brands and some startups. A chocolate bar from a creator with 200+ million followers can bulldoze its way onto supermarket shelves in months, something a conventional DTC startup would struggle to do in years and millions of euros of marketing. Fintechs used to court influencers; now they might be acquired by them.
But this shift also creates new risks. Running a CPG company or a fintech requires operations, compliance, logistics and customer support — problems you can’t solve with a viral video. Creators who underestimate this will burn cash and trust. And mid-tier creators, without MrBeast‑scale reach, may find the new game even harder: expectations are higher, but their distribution advantage is smaller.
The bigger picture
This isn’t an isolated story; it’s the logical endpoint of a decade-long trend. We’ve already seen creators like Logan Paul and KSI build billion‑euro beverage brands, and YouTubers spin up coffee, cosmetics and fashion labels that outlive their channels’ peak relevance. What’s new is the level of ambition and complexity: acquiring a fintech like Step is several steps beyond dropping a limited‑edition hoodie.
Industry‑wise, we’re watching the convergence of three worlds:
- Media – Creators own the attention.
- Consumer brands & fintech – Traditional companies own supply chains and licenses.
- Venture capital – Looking for growth stories with built‑in distribution.
MrBeast’s move, as highlighted by TechCrunch, essentially inverts the classic DTC script. Instead of a startup burning money to acquire customers, a creator‑led company starts with customers and then buys or builds the product stack underneath.
Historically, celebrity brands have been hit or miss; many were glorified licensing deals with shallow involvement. The new creator wave is different because content is continuous. These founders don’t just slap their name on packaging — they integrate the product into an ongoing narrative of videos, streams and social posts.
Competitors are responding. Traditional FMCG giants are experimenting with co‑created products; fintechs increasingly design referral and affiliate models around influencer audiences. Meanwhile, AI tools make it easier for smaller creators to launch brands on Shopify‑like rails, though without the same negotiating power with retailers.
The direction of travel is clear: we’re moving towards a landscape where a handful of creator‑led conglomerates sit alongside legacy consumer giants — and thousands of smaller experiments fight to escape niche status.
The European / regional angle
For European users and companies, this shift is both opportunity and regulatory headache.
On the opportunity side, European creators already command global audiences. Many have launched fashion, beauty and supplement lines; a few are dabbling in fintech partnerships and co‑branded cards. The MrBeast–Step deal will embolden them to think bigger: not just sponsorships with N26 or Revolut‑style players, but equity stakes, joint ventures or even acquisitions of niche fintech and e‑commerce infrastructure.
But Europe is not YouTube‑land without borders. The moment creators touch payments, lending or investment products, they run headfirst into PSD2, local financial regulations and, increasingly, EU‑wide rules on digital services and advertising transparency.
Under the Digital Services Act (DSA), creator‑led platforms and storefronts have stricter obligations around consumer protection and ad labelling. GDPR limits the way creators and their brand vehicles can exploit audience data for cross‑selling. And if an influencer’s app includes AI‑driven recommendation or scoring systems, the upcoming EU AI Act could add another layer of compliance.
For European startups, there’s a strategic question: do you try to grow your own brand, or do you quietly become the white‑label engine behind creator‑led products? The smarter SaaS and fintech players in Berlin, Paris, Amsterdam or Ljubljana will likely lean into the latter, positioning themselves as the rails for this new class of media‑native commerce.
Looking ahead
Expect more creator‑driven M&A, but not a flood of nine‑figure deals. The MrBeast–Step story is a beacon case that will inspire imitators, yet capital, competence and regulatory tolerance will cap how far this goes.
In the next two to three years, several trends are likely:
- Creator holding companies – Top creators will formalise into multi‑brand groups, each with its own P&L, management and investors, more akin to mini‑Unilevers than solo influencers.
- Collectives for the mid‑tier – Creators who can’t justify owning an entire product line may band together into co‑ops or roll‑ups, pooling distribution in exchange for equity stakes.
- Regulatory test cases – At least a few high‑profile failures or consumer‑protection cases will force regulators to clarify where the line sits between promotion and responsibility.
The open questions are serious: What happens when a creator‑owned fintech mishandles KYC or suffers a data breach? How do insolvency laws treat customers who came in via a parasocial relationship rather than a bank branch? And how much brand damage can a creator absorb before their business empire suffers a permanent hit?
For readers — whether you’re a startup founder, marketer or aspiring creator — the key is to watch who actually builds operational depth. The winners won’t be the loudest on YouTube, but the ones who quietly hire boring CFOs, compliance officers and supply‑chain veterans.
The bottom line
Creators turning into conglomerates is not a side quest; it’s the new main story of the creator economy. MrBeast’s fintech acquisition, as highlighted by TechCrunch, is a proof‑of‑concept that distribution can buy infrastructure, not just rent it. That’s exciting, but it also drags creators into the messy realities of regulation and execution — especially in Europe. The real question for the next decade isn’t who gets the most views, but who can turn attention into institutions without breaking consumer trust on the way.
