MrBeast’s company fired a video editor after Kalshi accused the employee of insider trading
NEW YORK (AP) — Beast Industries fired a video editor this week following accusations that MrBeast engaged in insider trading. prediction market operator Kalshi.
Kalshi announced last month that a user who traded nearly $4,000 in streaming markets on MrBeast videos with “near-perfect” success was revealed to be a Beast Industries employee who “possibly had access to material non-public information.” Kalshi suspended the editor from the platform for two years, fined him $20,000 and alerted federal regulators.
A spokesman for Beast Industries, founded by Jimmy Donaldson, said the nearly 500-person company “has no tolerance for this behavior” and has launched an independent investigation. Jeff Housenbold, the company’s president and CEO, told CNBC several months ago that MrBeast took action to prevent employees and contestants from trading for Donaldson’s popular Amazon Prime reality competition show Beast Games.
The incident has placed Donaldson’s biggest channel on YouTube, which has become famous for its acrobatics-based challenges that often involve large cash giveaways, at the center of debate over whether prediction markets are a form of gambling and how they are regulated. Kalshi is one of the few popular platforms that allows participants to bet on the possible outcomes of events. Bets can be placed on anything. Super Bowl halftime show with The fall of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
A Beast Industries spokesperson called on Kalshi and other exchanges to communicate their findings more clearly. Housenbold, who previously served on the board of casino company Caesars Entertainment, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” last week that prediction markets are “ripe for exploitation.” He said that the practice is definitely similar to gambling and added that the government should make this decision.
Prediction markets are currently regulated by the federal Commodity Futures Trading Commission, not state gambling authorities. Critics said prediction markets and regulators should do more to prevent incidents of insider trading.
“You can be a third-party videographer on set and know what the first song in rehearsal is for a singer. You can be the person who reviews a script and knows what the end result is,” Housenbold said. “There is so much information out there and it is asymmetrical and people are taking advantage of it.”
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