• MrBeast is exploring offering advertising services, according to new trademark filings.
• The top YouTuber has filed applications that list plans for a range of ad and marketing services.
• It’s the latest sign of his ambitions to expand beyond his core media business.

YouTuber MrBeast broke the code for getting attention online. Now, he may be looking to share his strategies with others.

The content creator’s company filed a new set of trademark applications in the past few weeks that lay the groundwork for branching into advertising and marketing services.

Two of those filings, for “MrBeast Social” and “Beast Social,” include activities such as advertising, marketing, and promotion services, as well as facilitating connections between creators, brands, and agencies.

A third filing, under the name “Creator Industries,” lists plans for services for online content creators, like software and mobile apps for content creation, editing, monetization, and more.

The CEO of Beast Industries, Jeffrey Housenbold, said in December that the company planned to build a platform to connect brands and creators. Donaldson’s company already offers a “clipping” marketing service called Vyro, which matches brands with creators to promote video clips across social media. He also operates other content-related service businesses, such as the analytics company Viewstats and the dubbing company CreatorGlobal.

A fourth new trademark application, for “Watchtime Studios,” describes a video production arm focused on developing and producing video content for others.

MrBeast’s applications didn’t give a timeframe, but they were filed on an “intent to use” basis, which means the applicant has a bona fide intent to launch such services, said Josh Gerben, a trademark attorney whose firm’s clients include entrepreneurs, celebrities, and pro athletes, and who spotted the filings.

A spokesperson for MrBeast declined to comment.

Donaldson would be entering a crowded field in advertising and content creator services. The competition includes ad holding companies, tech platforms, and independent agencies. On the other hand, brands and creators could be drawn to the idea of the world’s biggest online creator helping them master social media themselves. For example, Donaldson recently worked with Salesforce to develop a concept for its Super Bowl commercial, which he also appeared in.

Other entertainers have entered the advertising and marketing space lately, most notably Ryan Reynolds through his agency, Maximum Effort. Other recent examples are podcaster Alex Cooper, who in 2025 launched the Unwell Creative Agency, a division of her media company Unwell, and Kristen Bell, who launched Dunshire Productions in 2022.

Two former MrBeast staffers, Anthony Potero and Talia Schulhof, also launched a stunt-marketing startup called Pufferfish last year.

MrBeast has been branching out into new businesses beyond media as he tries to improve the company’s financial footing ahead of a possible IPO.

In the past year, he’s acquired Step, a financial app for teens; explored a mobile phone service in the vein of Ryan Reynolds’ Mint Mobile; and dipped a toe into experiences with Beast Land, a pop-up theme park in Saudi Arabia. He also has a growing candy business, Feastables.

In January, Beast Industries, which was previously valued at around $5 billion, announced it raised $200 million in new funding from the ethereum holding company Bitmine Immersion Technologies.

• The Pentagon published an awkwardly worded press release announcing a soldier’s death.
• The press release is titled “DOW Identifies An Army Believed to Be Casualty.”
• Retired military spokespeople say casualty announcements are among the military’s most sensitive communications.

The Pentagon last week announced the death of a US Army soldier killed while supporting Operation Epic Fury before a medical examiner had positively identified them. Former military spokespeople said that it was an unusual and awkwardly phrased departure from standard procedures.

In a press release titled, “DOW Identifies An Army Believed to Be Casualty,” the Department of Defense announced “the believed to be death” of Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert M. Marzan, an Army reservist who died during an Iranian strike that also killed five other troops in Kuwait.

According to the release, Marzan, a soldier with the 103rd Sustainment Command, “was at the scene of the incident on March 1, 2026, and is believed to be the individual who perished at the scene. Positive identification of Chief Warrant Officer 3 Marzan will be completed by the medical examiner.”

A defense official told Business Insider a medical examiner has since confirmed Marzan’s identity.

Prematurely announcing a death risks misidentification, which can erode public trust if corrections are later required, two former military spokespeople told Business Insider. They also said attention to detail and clarity in these communications shows respect.

“When a service member is killed in combat, they deserve better than this,” Joe Plenzler, a retired Marine lieutenant colonel who worked in public affairs during the Global War on Terror, wrote in a post to LinkedIn.

He told Business Insider separately that “it’s a simple matter of respect to make sure that everything is accurate.”

US Central Command, which oversees American military operations in the Middle East, has reported seven US service members killed in action in the Iran war that began in late February. The fatal strike in Kuwait came as Iranian forces launched missiles into countries across the region. Marzan is the only service member in this conflict so far who has been described as “believed to be” dead.

Asked about the statement, the Office of the Secretary of Defense referred Business Insider to the Army, saying, “DOW announces, all follow-on questions go to the Army.” The Army did not provide comment to Business Insider.

Why the Pentagon statement was unusual

Typically, the military refers to a service member whose death has not yet been confirmed as “DUSTWUN,” short for “duty status — whereabouts unknown,” a retired Army spokesman who served during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan told Business Insider. The term is used when a service member’s absence is involuntary and their status cannot yet be confirmed.

Announcing a death before positive identification by a medical examiner marks a break from norms that governed casualty reporting over two previous decades of war, the former spokesman said. The DUSTWUN designation is intended for situations where ongoing rescue efforts prevent an immediate determination, though recovery of remains is not always required to declare a service member deceased, according to military policies outlining casualty procedures.

“We had thousands of casualties throughout the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan and Syria,” said the retired Army official. “I don’t recall ever announcing someone as ‘believed to be a casualty.'”

Few communications are as important or sensitive as announcing a casualty, he said, describing a somber process honed after more than 7,000 US service member deaths during the Global War on Terror, according to Brown University’s Costs of War project.

Plenzler, the former Marine public affairs officer, told Business Insider that all communications related to sensitive topics, including casualties, were generally examined by at least three people before publication because of the heavy impact on public trust.

In his LinkedIn post, he recalled seeing “people removed from leadership positions for getting names incorrect during memorial services.”

While the former Army spokesman expressed disappointment in what they characterized as an awkwardly written DoD announcement, he also noted that many of the personnel who oversaw casualty communications during the height of the previous wars in the Middle East have since left the service, leaving newer troops to manage hard notifications and public messaging.

“We have been sort of out of this business now for several years,” he said.

Marzan, 54, lived in Sacramento and was assigned to an Iowa-based logistics unit. Business Insider could not reach a Marzan family member for comment.

Communicating casualty updates comes with a learning curve, the former Army spokesman said. The details of this release are unclear, but he said he hopes “they’ve learned a lesson from this.”

The announcement comes amid broader shifts in how the military communicates during fast-moving combat operations, including increased reliance on social media updates from combatant commands and the Pentagon. Communications once known for staid military-speak now often feature videos of US missile strikes or jets taking off, strong wartime rhetoric, or posts debunking Iranian “bogus claims.”

• When my husband and I got married, I stayed in New York while he was deployed in San Diego.
• I liked living our separate lives and being in New York, but he wanted me to move and I did.
• Our relationship didn’t work out, but moving to California ended up being the best thing for me.

“Either we give this a real shot, or we don’t,” my husband said during one of our nightly phone calls.

By that point, we’d been together for five years (off and on) and married for one. We’d skipped all of the ceremony and quietly wed at City Hall.

It felt quick, in part, for practical reasons — I could get on his health insurance, and know where he was when the United States Navy sent him out on deployment.

Shortly after we eloped, we returned to our separate lives, connected only by a nightly phone call and occasional visits. He went back to San Diego, where he was stationed at the time, and I returned to working my nonprofit theatre job in New York City.

It suited me fine: My marriage was a box I could check on a list of accomplishments. Now that I’d completed the task of acquiring a spouse, I had space to think about more important things.

However, things changed when my husband decided that he was no longer content to live separate lives.

I agreed to move to California, but it didn’t help our relationship

When my husband asked me to move to San Diego, I was hesitant. I didn’t know anyone but him, and I had spent the entirety of my adult life building a community for myself in New York City.

I lived within walking distance of some of my closest friends and commuted into a city I had always dreamed of living in to work for a feminist theatre nonprofit I adored.

However, I was tired of the grind, chronically broke due to the high cost of living, and not opposed to a big change. So I agreed: I’d give up my Queens apartment and join him in California.

I blew through my meager savings to make the move and arrived jobless, penniless, friendless. Still, I began to love San Diego almost immediately, the constant sunshine making me happier than I’d ever been before.

I loved the muted sunsets over the rolling hills, the prevalence of hiking trails and public parks, the proximity to the ocean, and the surprisingly robust theatre scene.

However, my relationship with my husband felt strained, like we no longer knew how to share a space with one another.

The rigors of military life had worn him down, and the protracted distance had made us strangers. I also didn’t get along with his military friends, the relationships he’d carefully cultivated to help him survive an increasingly stressful work life.

I was a ghost, haunting our home, shrinking, trying to make a marriage work when I never completely wanted it in the first place.

It was a bad marriage, but that wasn’t all his fault. Looking back, I also realize the love I had for him was rooted in the potential I saw for a future I didn’t know then would never come to pass.

Six months after I got to San Diego, our relationship ended.

Although our marriage didn’t work out, my move to the West Coast really did

After we officially split, I considered moving back to New York or even retreating to my family’s home in Michigan, but I eventually decided I wanted to give California a real shot.

I got my own place, a tiny apartment in a run-down part of town close to the ocean. I stayed for the sunlight … and because I couldn’t afford another cross-country move so soon after I’d just made one.

I didn’t know it then, but following my ex across the country to San Diego would turn out to be one of the best choices I’ve ever made.

Because here, I would find work teaching and writing books, make friends, and join a new theatre community. I would get an agent, a playwriting fellowship, a residency in Italy, and an opportunity to shoot my first feature film.

And a year and a half later, I would meet the man who would become my partner of over 12 years (and counting), and the father of my son.

I don’t know if I believe in the adage that “everything happens for a reason,” but I do know that the wrong turns and detours, the stumbles and backtracks, brought me to where I am now.

And I wouldn’t change a thing.

• Several US airports experienced hourslong TSA lines and delays on Sunday and Monday.
• Some passengers were advised to arrive at least three hours before their scheduled departure.
• TSA has been experiencing staffing shortages amid the partial government shutdown.

Passengers traveling through Houston, New Orleans, Chicago, and other US airports experienced hourslong delays on Sunday and Monday as spring break travel peaked and the Transportation Security Administration experienced staffing shortages due to the ongoing partial government shutdown.

Nearly 2.8 million passengers passed through TSA checkpoints on Sunday, making it the agency’s busiest day since January 4. The partial government shutdown, which began in February, has also left TSA security checkpoints short-staffed into Monday as employees call in sick rather than work without pay.

“Southwest texted me early that morning to expect up to 3-hour lines, so I left early,” Chris Fenton, who traveled through Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport on Sunday, told Business Insider via direct message on X. “I never expected to see what I saw, though.”

The lines stretched from the security checkpoints, down an escalator, and out to the parking garage, snaking around the entire terminal multiple times, Fenton said. After reaching the TSA PreCheck and Clear lines, wait times extended by another 30 minutes.

While the airport is usually well prepared for busy travel times, like Sundays and the spring break season, the scale of the lines was “somewhat shocking,” Fenton said.

His total wait time was about an hour, but he said passengers without TSA PreCheck might have waited twice as long.

Some airports continued to advise passengers to anticipate longer-than-usual wait times on Monday, though the worst delays appeared to have eased, and not all airports appear to be impacted. While Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport told passengers to plan to arrive at least three hours before their flights, NOLA.com staff writer Justin Mitchell reported that it took him about one hour to get through security on Monday morning.

The TSA and the US Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Photos showed the crowded airports amid the extended wait times.

On Sunday, passengers at William P. Hobby Airport in Houston waited in hourslong lines to get through airport security.

Airlines warned travelers of prolonged wait times on Sunday as the TSA experienced its busiest travel day since January 4 while grappling with staffing shortages.

The airport attributed the delays to the partial federal government shutdown.

Lines stretched outside the airport terminal and into the parking garage.

The Houston airport used green balloons to indicate the TSA PreCheck lines.

The standard TSA lines were marked with red balloons to help direct traffic.

William P. Hobby Airport warned passengers on Monday that TSA PreCheck lines “may extend beyond two hours.”

Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport warned of “longer-than-average” wait times.

Travelers were advised to arrive at least 3 hours before their scheduled departure.

The airport said that wait times could reach 2 hours and that delays may persist throughout the rest of the week.

Passengers at Chicago O’Hare International Airport also encountered longer-than-usual lines on Monday morning.

• Some US airports are warning travelers about long TSA lines.
• The delays come as TSA agents, facing a missed paycheck amid the partial government shutdown, are not coming to work.
• Houston Hobby and New Orleans Louis Armstrong Airport both warned of major delays.

The effects of the partial government shutdown were on display in some US airports starting on Sunday.

As TSA agents are expected to miss their first full paycheck on Saturday because of the partial shutdown, which started in February, some are not coming in to work. It’s resulting in long lines in some airports, and it comes as air travel hits the busy spring break period.

In X posts on Monday, the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the TSA, described the situation as “spring break under siege” and shared photos of throngs of people waiting in an airport.

For now, the chaos appears largely localized to a handful of airports — but travelers should expect lines across the US to worsen the longer the security officers work without pay.

Funding for the Department of Homeland Security expired in mid-February after Democratic lawmakers demanded changes to federal immigration enforcement efforts.

TSA agents also worked without pay during the record government shutdown in October and November, and received their back pay once the government reopened.

Here’s a look at some of the airports where travelers can expect longer TSA wait times.

This is a developing story; please check back for updates.

• Brazilian startup fund Shiva has raised $10 million to invest in niche software startups.
• Founder Lucas Marques is betting that diverse, tiny teams can compete on the global stage.
• Shiva will fund founders with monthly grants, capping each investment at $300,000.

A Brazilian startup fund is betting that AI has made large headcounts and funding rounds unnecessary to compete on the global stage.

Shiva, named for the Hindu god of transformation, has raised $10 million to back AI startups of one to three people — which it calls “Stars” — and arm them with monthly stipends rather than large, upfront checks.

Brazilian entrepreneur Lucas Marques founded Shiva, backed by venture firm Monashees. He believes AI can create opportunities for founders from disadvantaged backgrounds by dramatically reducing operating costs.

AI startup founders and Big Tech companies have increasingly shifted to forming smaller, nimble teams, favoring automation over hiring additional staff.

Marques grew up in rural Brazil and served as a partner and COO at fintech company Méliuz, which went public in 2020 as one of Brazil’s first startup initial public offerings. Shiva grew out of his work building an NGO called Programadores do Amanhã (Tomorrow’s Programmers), which teaches low-income students how to code. Shiva will similarly back entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds, he said.

Shiva will fund founders of pre-seed-stage niche software companies for up to a year, with total funding per company capped at $300,000. In exchange, it will take an equity stake in each startup, capped at 15%.

Marques said smaller, profitable exits — in the $20 million to $50 million range — can still generate strong returns with minimal overhead.

Take a company with revenues of $10 million a year.

“It’s not a unicorn; it’s not enough to make IPO,” Marques said, “but it’s an amazing company for a guy from a poor background. It can change the whole city.”

If companies go on to raise future funding, Shiva doesn’t intend to stay invested long-term and will instead sell its stake in secondary transactions to recycle the capital back into the fund.

Shiva also offers mentorship and community for founders. It is in a testing phase with about 30 startups, Marques said, and it will begin deploying funds in the coming months.

One early startup in the program is FoxApply, which automates LinkedIn job applications. It has amassed roughly 600 international customers within two months, Shiva said.

Ultimately, the fund aims to back 100 startups and will continue to welcome others on a rolling basis.

Here’s a look at the pitch deck Shiva used to raise $10 million. One slide has been edited so that the deck can be shared publicly.