The New York Post reported this week that Jimmy Donaldson, better known as MrBeast, has been quietly buying up the houses in a cul-de-sac in Greenville, North Carolina, in the area he grew up in. Over the last five years, he purchased his own home, then bought up the rest of the houses that surrounded his. Three of them were not up for sale, and were purchased off-market for almost a million and a half dollars combined. He purchased these homes for his family and employees.
If you’re not familiar with MrBeast, I’ve previously written a deep dive on his rise to fame and the ethical issues surrounding his philanthropical efforts. Long story short, he became famous for doing exhausting, boundary-pushing stunts, pivoted to giving people money for doing equally exhausting stunts, and created a spin-off channel where he does philanthropy. I think rich people giving away their money is good, but making inspiration porn for clicks to make that money is much less good. It’s a complicated and messy topic.
On the surface, buying houses for people is a very nice thing for him to do. I know if I was as rich as MrBeast, I’d offer to buy houses for all my friends, because I live in one of the most expensive cities in the world and some of my friends are in precarious housing situations. However, I’d also understand if my friends didn’t want to accept a several hundred thousand dollar gift from me, because of the imbalance it could bring into our relationship – they might feel like they owe me, or that they’re at risk of me trying to take their house back, leaving them homeless. Now, imagine that exact scenario, but I’m also their boss.
This leads to a number of pretty obvious problems, if you think about it for more than five seconds. Again, buying someone a house creates a dangerous power dynamic, especially if you’re their employer. There are two different things to consider here: if he bought the house and is renting it to his employees, he’s now both their boss and their landlord, and we all know landlords are leeches. If he’s giving them the deeds, that’s likely going to be something they have to pay taxes for.
Sure, he could pay the taxes too. He doesn’t on cars he gives away on his channel, but maybe this is different. Though what happens if his employees want to quit? What happens if he fires them? Do they keep the houses regardless, or is their housing tied to their employment with Donaldson? If they keep the house, it’s going to be extremely awkward to live in the same group of houses as your ex-boss and ex-colleagues. Everything about it makes it difficult for employees to leave if they want to, and gives them more incentive to overlook a poor working environment.
No matter how much I love my job and my colleagues, I would not want them to have constant access to me, be able to keep tabs on whether I’m home or not, or know my personal business. I especially would not want this if my work environment was difficult, my boss demeaned me regularly, and I wasn’t given credit for my work, as a former editor for Donaldson alleged. Another said that Donaldson had unreasonable demands, and quit after working for him for a single week. Several employees alleged that working conditions at his multiple companies were rife with favouritism and bullying.
Another concerning side effect of Donaldson’s actions: he could impact local housing markets if he continues buying up houses in the same area for above market rate. For some reason, Donaldson isn’t satisfied with the houses being in the same general area, he wants them to be in that cul-de-sac. That wouldn’t be so bad if the houses were actually up for sale, but most of them were not – Donaldson asked his neighbours to sell their homes to him.
There is now a single hold-out house. One of Donaldson’s former neighbours, who sold his house, said that he understood that the final hold-out was because it’s one of the best districts in the area and they have kids in school. One other neighbour sold her house to Donaldson and moved into a house up the street. From this, it’s pretty clear that Donaldson isn’t being flexible in this area – he wants his employees not just in the same city, or the same district, but in the same neighbourhood. This could have a concentrated effect of driving up housing prices in this particular part of Greenville, which would be unfortunate considering the country is already in a housing crisis.
I do have to wonder if Donaldson thinks about the consequences of his actions, though from the way he refuses to even consider that his philanthropy could be handled in a more empathetic way, I have my doubts. If this is something he intends to continue doing, and he wants to keep buying houses for his employees so they can be neighbours, he needs to be aware of what a company town is and be sure he doesn’t end up making one, inadvertently or otherwise. Five houses does not a town make, but it’s certainly a company cul-de-sac, and I don’t want to see it develop any further than it already has. Employees deserve to go home, and not live at work.