Take a look at the YouTube channels that

you're subscribed to. There's a good

chance at least one of them was quietly

sold to private equity.

But hold on, how? The creator is still

there and the thumbnails look the same,

but behind the scenes, the same guides

behind Blackstone are now calling the

shots for your favorite creator. And

unlike an Adie, the creator is under no

legal obligation to tell you that the

channel quietly changed hands. So

really, you actually have no idea

whether this channel was bought out too

or not.

It's not. It turns out it's not slowing

down because private equity firms have

quietly spent over $4 billion buying

YouTube channels. But what's weird is

that it's not even really going that

great. Early signs are seeing the

creators who built the channels walking

out, videos starting to slowly suck, and

the private equity firm that bought them

can't even milk the ad dollars that they

were counting on. So then why is private

equity continuing to double down? Well,

because what they're really paying for

is your trust. Trust that doesn't just

sell VPNs and mattresses, but trust that

can help pick whichever candidate

protects private equity's interest. And

not only was 2024 proof of this, it's

just the beginning. And so I followed

the money across every deal that I could

find and mapped out exactly how this

works and what will happen in the

future. And what I found is that it's

looking increasingly likely that private

equity is about to take it all for

themselves. And if something doesn't

change, we won't just lose the platform

that we all love, but the last bastion

of trust at a time when there's nothing

much left to trust.

So to understand this whole thing, I

think the best way is by showing you how

a private equity firm even buys a

YouTube channel. And I'll show you by

being private equity in this

demonstration. And once you see how this

actually works step by step, you will

understand why so many YouTube channels

you watch are quietly changing and why

nobody had to tell you about it. So

let's say I work at a private equity

fund, a a big fund with this big suit.

And the fund I manage is called

Blackstone. Actually, scratch that

subscriber stone capital. And anyways, a

bunch of wealthy people recently gave me

a lot of money. And my job is to buy

businesses, make them more valuable, and

sell them in the next five to seven

years. So with the clock already

running, the pressure was already on to

deliver. But the problem is big returns

only exist in places that nobody else

has risk going to before. And right now,

all the obvious targets are taken.

Manufacturing, healthcare, logistics,

and retail because there's been so much

private equity activity over the last

few years that the big firms have

already bought most of it. So as a newer

fund manager on the block, I had to find

an industry that the big guys haven't

figured out yet. And if I wanted to make

a name for myself, I was going to have

to get creative and lock in. But where

would I even start? And so, just as I

was able to lock in and, you know, put

on my favorite playlist, it hit me. The

next investment was staring me right in

my face, a platform that now has more TV

streaming hours than Netflix, a platform

called YouTube.com.

So, over the next few days, I furiously

started doing research on my next

target, I mean channel. And after

looking through every niche and crevice

of this website, I may have just found

the one.

So let me walk you through how I as

private equity exactly would identify

the perfect fit. So thank you for

joining subscriber stone investors for

today's meeting. I have three criterias

on why we need to invest in this

channel. And the first and foremost is

this channel has a proof of concept.

This channel has predictable revenue

every single month from AdSense. in this

channel probably has a tiny team. Let's

just say probably around five to six

people with low overhead. But this

brings me exactly to number two, which

is potential. So, as you can see here,

this channel has inconsistent views, but

it has a loyal audience. So, as long as

we find the right topics and format,

this can be something we can grow into.

Third, running out of time. So, I'll

tell you about it later on in a

different meeting. So anyways, even

without that third criteria, you can

start to see what private equity firms

are looking for when they decide what

channels to invest in. But here's why

we've only seen the beginning of this.

Because after crunching the numbers,

let's say I found this Gen channel makes

say a million dollars a year. And in any

other industry, a business doing a

million a year with margins like this

would cost me a fortune to invest in.

But with YouTube channels, I come to

find out that they sell to three to five

times their annual earnings. But what I

can sell it for is a completely

different number. But before I get to

that, I had a problem. Because when my

boomer boss has never even heard of Mr.

Beast, he came from this world of

spending $500 million on a single

hospital. How was I going to pitch him

this opportunity? Now, after some

convincing, he reluctantly agreed. But

now the pressure was really on. If it

all goes wrong, I'm cooked. Now my job

was on the line, and I was stressed.

Maybe this was a dumb idea. What am I

even doing? I should have just invested

in another hospital. But then I remember

something a wise man once told me,

>> just do it. And

>> that's when I realized I had to go all

in because just buying one channel isn't

the play. The play was something much

bigger. So I bought nine more similar

channels for a similar price. But here's

where the math gets really interesting.

What I do next is to combine all 10

under one company in what's known in the

private equity world as a rollup. And

what it unlocks is a few things. One

being greater efficiencies because now

the same legal team handles all the

contracts. Same person negotiates every

brand deal and same thumbnail testing

operation, account and compliance. It's

exactly what private equity has been

doing for years with hospitals. But the

biggest unlock is what this now means

for me and my investors. Because

remember, I bought each channel for 3 to

five times its earnings. But after this

roll up into my portfolio as a whole,

this now sells for 12 to 20 times

earnings. So without making any of the

channels better just by buying them,

putting them under one roof, the

valuation is now 20 times more. It's

exactly how I make a ton of money.

And it's the power of multiple

arbitrage. So a few years pass and now

my boomer boss is happy and he can't

stop bragging to his friends about how

much money he's making from this site

called YouTube.com. The problem is I

still haven't paid back any of my

investors. We're at year four now, but

remember our funds investors are

expecting returns by year five and

seven. So the clock was starting to run

out. So now it wasn't just about locking

in. I I have to make money. So now it's

all about optimization. That extra day

that we used to give to make the videos

better or cut. No, we want more videos

per week. Let's also optimize content

strategy. Those videos that the creator

thinks that is interesting, who cares?

Those need to be under strict

questioning now. Instead, what we need

to be doing are videos that are proven

to perform. That's the priority. And

just like that, similar videos are now

starting to get put out week over week.

And we're pumping them out like a

content factory. And audiences are

slowly starting to notice that something

is a bit off in the comments. But who

cares? We're here to make money now. And

if I want to maximize profits, I have to

eliminate these risks. And the biggest

risk is staring right at my face here.

Gen here may have been the one that

built his channel from the ground up.

But if the whole channel depends on just

Gen and he burns out or gets sick or

decides to leave, this asset stops

becoming worth anything. And I can't

have that happen. It's what's called the

keyman risk. And there is no way in hell

I'm going to lose out on my investment

because of Gen. So I start hiring new

hosts that happen to be slightly more

attractive and taller than Gen. And they

slowly start getting introduced. And now

that we have more hosts, we can start

launching more channels like Gen Plus.

And since we're now pumping out videos

every day, it's too expensive to hire a

creative director. So scripts start

getting approved by AI to make sure it's

brand friendly and it's at least good

enough to go before filming. And weeks

pass and now the channel slowly becomes

something that could keep running

without the person who built it. But

thing is, comments now really start

noticing. And some now even start

commenting that this is the last Gen

video that they'll watch. But here's the

part that matters and why no one has

told you about this. The FTC updated

their endorsement rules in 2023 that if

a creator gets paid to promote a

product, they have to tell you ex

exactly like you see on this video. But

if a private equity firm buys that

creator's entire channel, even if every

video they make going forward is

produced inside a portfolio being

managed toward a financial exit, the

creator doesn't have to say anything.

And that hush hush is exactly what

allows any of this to even work. Because

here at Subscriber Sum Capital, what I

didn't tell you is we do businesses with

these creators in two ways. Either we

own it outright 100% or a majority stake

acquisition of 50 to 80% where the

original creator remains. And we

actually prefer those deals because now

the creator also becomes a shareholder

and subscriber stone capital. Okay, but

why do we do that? Well,

oh, time's up. Sorry. Anyways, well,

when their financial interest is now

aligned with mine, he or she is going to

damn well make sure he's going to keep

cranking out videos. But more

importantly, he or she is going to damn

well make sure to not tell you, the

audience, that he or she was owned by me

all along because we both know how that

will go, right? By aligning our

incentives and having stakes in each

other's companies, now the creator is

handcuffed because at the end of the

day, we both want the exit to go well,

right? So, it seems like I was joking.

But the thing is, none of that was even

a bit. Like, yeah, Subscriber Stone

Capital is fake as but it's

similar to what actual private equity

firms that bought your favorite channels

have been doing for the last 5 years.

And a few main players are increasingly

driving up all of the deal flow. And

it's not just happening to YouTube. The

same dynamic is playing out everywhere

online. Platforms that seem free are

really just collecting everything about

you and selling it to whoever will pay

like your inbox, your habits, and your

behavior over time. And all of it is

becoming an ass on someone else's

balance sheet. That's where today's

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to try Proton Mail for free. So, now

let's talk about which channels have

actually been bought and the few players

behind them all. And look, some of these

names are going to surprise you, but the

bigger surprise might be where that

money is going and where it's coming

from.

So, we'll be looking at three main

players and their portfolio, but why not

start with the first and the biggest,

Electrify Video Partners. based in

London with $135 million raised and

backed by another private equity firm

called Capital D. They've been buying up

a bunch of channels over the last five

years and you'll definitely recognize at

least one of them from Fireship which is

a coding education, Simple History,

History Animation, Improvement Pill,

Self-improvement, and this one really

surprised me. Fern, that amazing

documentary channel, but the biggest and

most significant one is Veritassia, ran

by Derek Mohler. Electrified became the

majority owner and took over hiring,

logistics, compliance, taxes in a deal

that allowed Mhler to stay on as

co-owner on his 20 million subscriber

channel.

>> They would take care of things like

hiring, production, logistics.

>> This deal was actually announced a few

years ago in April 2023. But hold on,

take a look at that date. The deal

closed in 2023, but he didn't directly

tell his audience on YouTube until

Christmas Eve of 2025. So why did he

wait? Well, I imagine it's because they

knew exactly how people would react. Oh,

and I say they because he also became a

shareholder in Electrify itself.

>> I signed the deal in April 2023 and

since then, Feritasium has been owned

and run by me and Electrify.

>> So, obviously, his financial interest is

also aligned with the firm's eventual

exit. But to be fair, it was also a

smart business move by keeping it

low-key and in going on to create three

of the channel's most watched videos

ever and subscriber counts continue to

grow by 50%. By showing that nothing has

changed and then announcing it, there's

not much things that an audience could

say. And especially if Mhler is still

there and the videos are still quality,

if we look at just the numbers,

Electrify did make Veritassium better.

So, the important nuance here is that

private equity takeover of a channel

doesn't automatically equal bad. But you

know by now that if every deal looked

like this there there'd be no video

because remember what I said earlier

about Keyman Risk which is a perfect

transition to our second player Lunar X

which was specifically launched by

former KKR executives to invest in

digital first media brands. And they

made a splash onto this scene in 2022 by

acquiring the game theorist with 40

million plus combined subscribers across

their five channels. And similar to

Veritassium's Derek, the sale was framed

as this thing that would let MattPat,

the guy who built it, to finally be able

to step back.

>> On March 9th, I'll be hosting my last

theory episode.

>> The deal was that Matt Pat would handle

the creative direction behind the scenes

and Lunar X would handle all the boring

business stuff. And since MattPat has

officially stepped away from the camera,

on the surface, it actually seems like a

success. They gained a million new

subscribers across all five channels,

but the revenue tells a different story.

Estimated monthly earnings has dropped

70% from roughly 52,000 in March 2024 to

around 13,000 to 17,000 by February

2026. So, what this tells you is that

once the keyman has removed himself from

camera, the loyal audience also went

away with it. Now, it remains to be seen

if they will recover, but for some, they

didn't even get that luxury. Which leads

us to our third and final player,

Recurrent Ventures. Oh, and they've

raised $300 million from our favorite

private equity firm, Blackstone. Their

portfolio is huge, from Task and Purpose

to even Popular Science. But their most

important acquisition is Donut Media.

Found in 2015, these four guys built a

cult following around automotive content

with their 5.8 million subscriber

channel. So, it's no surprise that

Recurrent Ventures was all over this to

acquire Donut, and they successfully did

so in November 2021. And the big promise

that they made here was that all

founding staff would remain. But that

soon changed. After securing that sweet

$300 million funding from Blackstoneone,

Recurrent started moving different. They

overhired across the portfolio,

attempted to squeeze more revenue from

product reviews, and when the economics

deteriorated, they started to cut costs.

And even though raw subscriber count

continued to grow 8 million by 2024,

what didn't, and sounds a little bit

corny, was that magic that made them

great. Less than three years after

acquisition, three of the four guys all

departed within weeks of each other and

so did the audience because two of the

hosts launched their own independent

channels big time in speed and just

within a matter of weeks crossed 1.6

million combined subscribers. So with

all these different outcomes and right

now it's showing more bad than good

ones. What's interesting to see though

is that private equity money keeps

flowing and flowing. And when you look

at the channels that they're targeting,

it starts to kind of make sense. Take a

look at that acquisition map again.

Veritassium, Fireship, Economics

Explained, these are all channels aimed

at educated adults in high value niches

like finance, education, and science.

And this matters a lot because a regular

TV ad around these niches costs around

$10 to $15 to reach a,000 people. But

with YouTube, in one of these niches, it

can cost $50 per thousand. And again, it

goes back to advertisers not just paying

for impressions, but they're paying for

that trust. It's the same reason that

subscriber stone capital would go after

a channel like because if I had to

guess, you watching probably have more

disposable income than someone regularly

watching slop tamement or kid channels.

But turns out even that is changing

because one of the biggest deals in this

entire space that I haven't even talked

about yet has nothing to do with

educated adults. It has everything to do

with toddlers. If you have kids or for

some reason watch this show, which is

which is kind of weird, you know exactly

what this is. But also, it's probably

more weird that you've never heard of

them, considering that they're the

second most subscribed YouTube channel

on Earth with 120 million subscribers.

But in November 2021, Candle Media, run

by former Disney executives and backed

again by Blackstone, acquired Coco

Melon's parent company for $3 billion.

And what they built with that money is a

system that literally tracks second by

second when a toddler stops paying

attention to their videos.

>> And by figuring out the exact moment a

2-year-old looks away, they can engineer

every video onwards to make sure that

never happens again. So point is, it's

not just channels for adults. Private

equity is increasingly reaching the

youngest audiences who know nothing

other than to press play on their damn

iPad. Because as long as those kids keep

watching and begging their parents to

buy the latest merch or game, that's all

the return on investment anyone needs.

The thing is, every deal that I've

showed you so far are only the ones that

we know about. And when collective

investment into YouTube channels have

now reached $4 million, there's probably

a lot more that we don't. Like again,

maybe this channel. But before I reveal

that truth, we have to talk about what

all this actually means. Because

everything I've talked about isn't just

about entertainment getting worse or

bought out. Matter of fact, all this

even goes beyond money. This means

controlling what the next generation

believes and how our future is already

getting manipulated.

And if you think that's hyperbolic,

think again, because we already saw what

creator trust can do when it's pointed

at politics. During the 2024 election,

Trump sat down with Joe Rogan, Aiden

Ross, the Nelk Boys, Theo Von, and

dozens of creators, most boomers and big

heads that traditional media has never

heard about.

>> President Trump back on the podcast.

>> We're back.

>> I'll say that to the Nek Boys.

>> Our last chance.

>> If she wins, the country is finished.

>> His appearance on Rogan alone pulled

nearly 38 million YouTube views within

hours. And during his victory speech,

Dana White got on stage and thank

content creators by name. I want to

thank the Nel Boys, Aiden Ross, Theo

Vaughn, AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST, THE

MIGHTY AND POWERFUL Joe Rogan.

>> Among the listeners who said podcast

influenced their vote, 54% went for

Trump. But where I'm going with this is

here's where it gets uncomfortable.

Private equity acquired channels already

are being told to change content to be

safer because controversy scares the

advertisers and their portfolio

managers. So, if that's already

happening, what's stopping a private

equity firm from acquiring political

commentary channels and steering their

editorial direction towards candidates

who would pass laws that benefit the

firm's other investments. Because the

thing is, there's currently no rules

against it. And right now, when an

influencer is cheaper to acquire than

some mainstream news network, plus the

audience trusts them more. And like we

established, when a creator doesn't have

to disclose what private equity firm

they're owned by, it really becomes a

no-brainer on both sides. And so,

remember that third criteria I mentioned

in the subscriber stone investor

meeting? That third criteria I'm sure

private equity firms consider is how

much the channel values money over

principles. Because I can tell you from

experience, I've gotten offers for this

channel that I can't fully disclose. But

what I can tell you is that when those

conversations happen, the first thing

that gets discussed is the sort and list

of topics that you're not allowed to

touch anymore. So really think about

where all this is heading. We stopped

trusting the banks after 2008. We

stopped trusting the government a long

time ago hopefully and you stopped

trusting mainstream media. And now it's

pretty undeniable that that trust has

been transferred to your favorite

YouTuber like myself. But at the same

time, when 80% say that the biggest

trust killer is when influencers reveal

themselves as not genuine or

transparent, unlike the other

institutions we name that lost trust

slowly over decades, this relationship

is something that can break overnight.

And what we're now beginning to see is

that it's not just private equity, but

the largest companies is making their

way into one of the last institutions

that people sort of trust. As I was

finishing this video, Open AAI just

bought TBPN, a live stream talk show

that's like the sports center of the

tech industry.

>> A core part of this is editorial

independence. We can say whatever we

want because we're live and we don't

need to run anything through anyone.

>> Well, we'll see about that. But when

reports are saying that the deal was

somewhere near $100 million, we'll see

how much independence that truly means.

So whether this is the beginning of the

end, one thing is for certain. within

the next 10 to 15 years, a major

influencer is going to run for president

and he or she is going to win. And when

that happens, the question won't be

whether they're qualified. The question

you need to think about is who owns

them. And so, I'll be going even deeper

into this issue next week on my free

newsletter in the video description. But

if you don't want to join the special

2,800 of you and would rather watch how

private equity isn't just breaking your

favorite YouTube channel, but

potentially the global economy, go and

watch this video on how private equity

will break America. Yeah.