What Is Marques Brownlee's Net Worth?
Marques Brownlee is an American social media personality who has a net worth of $8 million. Marques Brownlee is best known through his "MKBHD" YouTube channel, where he has more than 17 million subscribers and 3.5 billion views. He is well-known for his technology-focused videos and his podcast, "Waveform."
Marques has been called "the best technology reviewer on the planet right now" by former Senior Vice President of Google Vic Gundotra. Brownlee started a Smartphone Award Series in 2014. He is a professional ultimate frisbee player and has played for the Philadelphia Phoenix and the Garden State Ultimate. Brownlee has also played in the American Ultimate Disc League for the New York Rumble.
Early Life
Marques Brownlee was born on December 3, 1993, in Maplewood, New Jersey. He was interested in technology from a young age, especially the early Internet. He joined YouTube in 2008 while in high school. After graduating from Columbia High School in 2011, he attended Stevens Institute of Technology, where he earned his bachelor's degree in business and information technology in 2015.
Career
Brownlee began uploading technology videos to his YouTube account in January 2009, calling his channel "MKBHD," a combination of his initials and HD for high definition. His videos focused on new products and reviews of products he already owned. He also uploaded videos that were tutorials for hardware and freeware. As his following and view count grew, his videos were promoted by other review sites. In 2012, Engadget promoted his video tour of a new cloud storage service called Insync. The following year, one of his videos on the LG G Flex phone went viral, reaching one million views during the first day. In December 2013, Marques began doing interviews, beginning with Motorola CEO Dennis Woodside. The following year, he interviewed Evan Blass, his first over-the-air interview.
Brownlee's video review of the iPhone 6, uploaded in July 2014, gained immediate popularity. It was featured on sites like "The Verge," "Forbes," "HuffPost," "CNET," and "Time" magazine. It also appeared on "NBC News" and in newspapers across the world. He has since continued uploading iPhone-related content. That year, Marques also started his Smartphone Awards series in which he picks the best phones in certain categories from the past year. By 2017, he had begun creating physical awards and sending them to the companies that created the phones that won.
In December 2015, Brownlee interviewed professional NBA basketball player Kobe Bryant in a video that he called "Talking Tech with Kobe Bryant!" In the video, the pair discussed Kobe's tech interests and his most recent shoe collaboration with Nike, the Kobe 11.
Brownlee has also interviewed political figures. During one of the 2016 Democratic presidential primary debates sponsored by YouTube, he asked the candidates questions about the government's relationship with technology companies regarding encryption and national security.
In October 2016, Marques was able to interview Apple's senior vice president of software engineering, Craig Federighi, around the time that the latest MacBook Pro 2016 was released. He spoke with him again later in June 2020.
In March 2018, Brownlee interviewed Neil deGrasse Tyson. The next month, he was awarded a Shorty Award in the Creator of the Decade category, given he had started his YouTube account in 2008. In June of that year, Marques was a guest on "Hot Ones," the Internet interview show in which guests eat progressively spicier hot wings while fielding questions. In August 2018, Brownlee interviewed Tesla CEO Elon Musk, which resulted in a video called "Tesla Factory Tour with Elon Musk." By the end of 2018, Brownlee was featured in "YouTube Rewind," an annually-released video by YouTube in which that year's most popular and viral content was highlighted.
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In February 2019, Marques interviewed Bill Gates. The same year, he interviewed Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella before the announcement of the Microsoft Surface. He also interviewed actor Will Smith. By the end of 2019, Brownlee had reached 10 million subscribers on YouTube, making his channel one of the most-subscribed-to-technology-focused YouTube channels overall.
In 2019, Brownlee also co-created the podcast "Waveform: The MKBHD Podcast" with his co-host, Andrew Manganelli. The podcast is focused on consumer electronics and related topics and aired its first episode in July 2019.
In February 2020, Brownlee again interviewed Bill Gates. In September of that year, he interviewed Mark Zuckerberg and discussed the future of virtual reality and holograms. At the end of 2020, he interviewed former President Barack Obama and discussed the use of technology and social media in government. "Forbes" magazine included Marques on their "30 Under 30" list in December of that year in the social media category. In May 2021, he interviewed Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google.
Personal Life
Brownlee created and produced his videos in his apartment in New Jersey until 2016, when he began working out of a studio space in Kearny, New Jersey. He enjoys Tesla vehicles, having owned a Model S and a Model S Plaid. In addition to his interests in technology, Marques is also a professional ultimate frisbee player for the New York Empire of the American Ultimate Disc League. In July 2022, Brownlee won the World Flying Disc Federation World Ultimate Club Championship.
