As the most famous youtuber in the world, 26 year old swede Felix "Pewdiepie" Kjellberg puts another successful year behind him.
Last year his company Pewdie Productions had sales of close to $9 million (SEK 75 million), with an almost unbeliveable operating profit of $8 million. All of this is according to the company's year-end report for 2015, that Breakit has gotten hold of.
However, the growth rate is far from explosive. In 2014 Pewdie Productions sales amounted to $7.4 million (SEK 63,7) and operating profits ended at $7.3 million (SEK 63 Million).
Felix Kjellberg, with his billions of viewers, is probably not that happy either. In 2015, Pewdiepie was under contract with the American multi-channel network (MCN) Maker Studios. An arrangement which – according to Pewdiepie – was unfavorable for him economically speaking.
"Google [which owns Youtube] takes 45 percent of our revenues, and the network takes another 50 percent. That doesn't leave much", he said in an interview with Icon last year.
In January the Youtube legend took matters into his own hands and formed his own MCN called Revelmode. However, he is not completely free from Disney-owned Maker Studios, which is one of Revelmode's partners.
The new MCN will focus on producing premium content. Felix Kjellberg has reached an agreement with youtube about creating a horror series for the paid version of the platform, Youtube Red. How the new endeavors affect Pewdiepie's economy remains to be seen.