Behind Jake and Logan Paul’s $200 million plus business empire: From Netflix Mike Tyson fight to Prime Energy
Logan and Jake Paul, two of the creator economy’s biggest stalwarts, are only gaining steam—and not just from social media.
The brothers, 29-year-old Logan and 27-year old Jake, have each raked in millions in MMA fighting, podcasting, sponsorships, new product ventures, and collaborations. Before sports, the duo made their names on Vine and YouTube, becoming notorious for filming stunts, pranks, and various vlogs, often with a group of other young creators.
Most recently, younger brother Jake Paul is in the news for dominating legendary fighter Mike Tyson in the ring.
At an August press conference, Paul told reporters that he was doing the fight “to make $40 million and knock out a legend” on the Netflix-streamed boxing match. Experts claim that total might have been closer to $20 million.
Up-and-coming boxer Paul made an estimated $45 million from his athletic pursuits in 2022, according to Forbes (they did not tally the totals from his other revenue streams, such as YouTube). Paul beat Tyson over eight rounds of fighting. Netflix won too, with millions of viewers tuning in to see the fight at the Dallas Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium. Per CNBC, the match garnered $17.8 million in ticket revenue—the richest-ever boxing gate outside of Nevada.
Paul’s win over Tyson adds to his string of boxing successes. The sport is now Paul’s primary source of income, after a long period of YouTube and influencing-based wealth. Paul has said his sole boxing loss (against Love Island star and British boxer Tommy Fury) still earned him $30 million.
Jake Paul: the lucrative boxer
The Paul brothers grew up in Westlake, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland, with divorced parents. Fans have long speculated over just how wealthy the family was, disputing the claim that either brother “came from nothing.”
Jake Paul’s exact net worth is unknown—despite many approximations from different outlets—though most sources peg Jake’s pre-Tyson fight wealth to be around $80 million. But “a $120 million net worth isn’t out of the question,” TheStreet wrote.
Jake—ranked #13 on Forbes’ Top Creators 2024 list—had earned approximately $13.6 million so far this year, prior to the fight. He earns money through boxing even when his gloves are off. He promotes fights between other boxers through Most Valuable Promotions, a company he co-founded in 2021 alongside Nakisa Bidarian, his business partner and a career investor.
Representatives for Jake Paul did not immediately respond to requests for comment about his earnings from the Tyson fight or for Paul’s net worth.
Before he took to the ring, Paul was among the best-known creators of the early 2010s. He first began posting on Vine, the now-defunct video app, in 2013, and soon amassed over 5 million followers and 2 billion views. In 2014, he launched his YouTube channel, which currently boasts just shy of 21 million followers, and 7.7 billion views.
Forbes ranked Paul as one of the highest-paid YouTube creators four times between 2017 and 2023. He’s also dabbled in acting, including a role on a Disney channel series opposite singer Olivia Rodrigo between 2016 and 2018—but was later fired.
He’s also a co-founder of a venture capital firm called the Anti Fund, geared at “rebels and iconoclasts”, which invests in seed to early-stage companies in the areas of cryptocurrency, sports, and e-commerce. Paul is also the founder of Betr, a fantasy and sportsbook betting app.
All about Logan Paul
29-year-old Logan Paul has, like his brother, maintained a web presence for more than a decade. (And like his brother, his precise net worth is unknown.) Logan is Forbes’ #12 on its Top Creators 2024 list, with an estimated $9.8 million in earnings this year. Forbes did not include a net worth estimation, but Celebrity Net Worth pegs it at $150 million—$70 million richer than Jake, by its own estimation.
Logan also began on Vine before pivoting to YouTube, where he has over 23 million subscribers—more than his younger brother. He also hosts “Impaulsive,” a widely popular podcast on which Donald Trump appeared over the summer—and is a fight star in his own right, though he focuses more on wrestling. Logan has fought at Wrestlemania and has a partnership with WWE.
The elder Paul co-founded Prime, a beverage brand, in 2022 with YouTube influencer Olajide “KSI” Olatunji. The brand, which offers both Prime Hydration (a sports drink alternative) and Prime Energy (a caffeinated drink), has suffered a string of controversies since it hit shelves. New York Senator Chuck Schumer last summer called on the Food and Drug Administration to investigate the beverage, which he said is “a serious health concern for the kids it so feverishly targets.”
In April, a class-action lawsuit claimed that Prime has excessive caffeine and “forever chemicals,” allegations Paul denied. Prime Energy is banned in the Netherlands, Slovenia, and at many schools throughout Australia.
One 12-ounce can of Prime Energy contains 200 milligrams of caffeine—which is as much as you’d find in six cans of Coca-Cola.
Despite Schumer’s claim that the drink is a “cauldron of caffeine,” some consumers aren’t bothered. At a UFC fight on Saturday at Madison Square Garden, Elon Musk and president-elect Donald Trump were seen knocking back Prime Hydration drinks.
