Felix Kjellberg, better known as PewDiePie, is not only the most subscribed YouTube star but also the highest paid. His channel reached 50 million subscribers and 14 billion views this year and has been holding the first position since Dec 22, 2013. That has pushed his networth to $61 million as of 2016.
Nevertheless, besides his YouTube career success, many do not know of his education background and philanthropic side. The Swedish web-based comedian originally attended Chalmers University of Technology to pursue a degree in Industrial economics and tech management.
While still at the university, PewDiePie opened his YouTube account in 2010 and dropped school the following year to focus on it. His parents were not supportive in his decision, but this did not kill his aspirations.
Having been denied support, PewDiePie moved on to work for a hot dog stand, an effort he directed to funding his videos. He rapidly gathered an ever-increasing online following and finally reached 1 million subscribers in 2012, according to Time Toast.
Since 2013, PewDiePie Channel success has been inflating, further pushing his earnings over the roof. According to various reports, PewDiePie earned roughly $4 million in 2013 although other sources claim otherwise.
Several other sources claimed that his production company earned $7.5 million in the same year. The YouTuber confirmed on Reddit that the figures were close to what he earned. The reason behind the unclarified reports is that YouTube itself does not encourage such disclosure.
Later on, the 27-year-old appeared in the top list of Forbes highest YouTubers with a report of $12 million earnings in 2015. In 2016, he was named the highest-paid YouTuber with an annual income of $15 million.
But that is not the only fascinating thing about PewDiePie. Apparently, he is a philanthropist and directs a big share of his earnings to charitable avenues.
Backed by his popularity, PewDiePie has in the past supported fundraising drives. He has donated some of his earnings to World Wildlife Fund and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, among others. He even once started a "Water Campaign" charity, in celebration of reaching 10 million subscribers.
In December, PewDiePie along with other Revel mode creators hosted "Cringemas," a livestream that went on for two days between 6PM-10PM GMT. The stream helped raise money for a charity aimed at eradicating HIV/AIDS in Africa under the program RED.
During the first day, the team raised $200,000, finally reaching a figure of over $1.3 million in the next day with a little help from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Here are some tweets on the same:
These are just a few of his contributions. Throughout his career and his journey to YouTube stardom, PewDiePie has raised a huge amount in all his generous trails.
PewDiePie's fame and popularity are pivoted on his uniqueness, sense of humor, and sidesplitting nature. His video content has been labelled as energetic, obnoxious, goofy, and filled with profanity.
One of PewDiePie's most successful powerful source of influence is his tendency to address his audience like a bunch of peer-like friends, and not necessarily as distant, genuflecting fans. Here is one of his latest videos: