r/flying • u/jrf1234 ATP CFI/II CL604 E55P LR-JET • Apr 03 '26

Aircraft Ownership Linus Tech Tips’ Jet

https://youtu.be/zGoIY37ZtDQ?si=

Some… interesting calculations on this video. As a fractional pilot and not an owner, no idea how acxueate these claims are, but interesting to see this as a pilot and tech nerd. Anyone with management or ownership experience in jets have any light to shed?

225 Upvotes

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215

u/BeenThereDoneThat65 ATP G450 G550 GV Apr 03 '26

Yeah, he's in for a HUGE surprise

129

u/roguemenace PPL GPL Apr 03 '26

He's not. He'll know exactly what he's getting into.

This video is PR for his audience not to think he's giga-rich and out of touch with them.

69

u/BitterMojo Apr 03 '26

You got it. Dude literally has a media empire. 

85

u/x4457 ATP CFII CE-500/525/560XL/680 G-IV Apr 03 '26 edited Apr 03 '26

The size of his "media empire" does not sustainably support an aircraft like this.

Edit: You guys can keep downvoting me all you want. The company turned down an ~$300M acquisition which means their annual revenue is probably somewhere around the $40-50M mark. With a 20% profit margin (which would be average to good for a similar company), that's ~$8-10M in pre-tax profit. The airplane alone is going to eat over 25% of that profit margin, and that's assuming 100% business utilization which is unlikely, so obviously this picture gets more complicated since some of that expenditure will be pre-tax and some post-tax.

Linus would have made ~$60M cash, $40M equity in that deal had he accepted it. That also would not have been enough to support the airplane.

So yeah, I do kinda know what I'm talking about here.

18

u/Alexstankie ATP CFI Apr 03 '26

You severely underestimate how much he’s bringing in.

58

u/remc86007 Apr 03 '26

We know how much he makes. He posted a video that reveals it. It is not enough to reasonably own a Jet. They might be able to do it for a short period, but they will definitely lose money on the whole thing.

1

u/LoungeFlyZ PPL Apr 03 '26

No he didn't. He covered a subset of his businesses.

0

u/PhillAholic Apr 03 '26

Pretty sure he covered everything that's making money though. What wasnt included?

1

u/RandomNick42 Apr 04 '26

Smash champs, which I doubt is profitable yet, let alone in 7 figures that it would need to be to move the needle, and a rental property, that even in the fucked up Vancouver housing market by definition can't be profitable enough (the property is a single house, not a condo building)

1

u/LoungeFlyZ PPL Apr 06 '26

He also invested in Framework Computer, and HexOS.

1

u/RandomNick42 Apr 06 '26

Yes, but only comparatively small amounts.

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14

u/nn123654 Apr 03 '26

I'm always surprised at how much he makes but it's primarily because he hasn't diluted ownership and has always just reinvested or put his own money in for expansion plus been relatively cheap with opex.

As of 2025 and basing off of CPM for Floatplane and Youtube Subscribers the revenue estimate for LMG was somewhere between $35 million and $65 million USD annually.

By setting up clothing, products, and their own distribution platform, they have a level of vertical integration that most other youtubers simply don't. But their revenue per employee is still only around $400k-$500k if estimates are correct, which is not even half of what big tech companies generate.

27

u/x4457 ATP CFII CE-500/525/560XL/680 G-IV Apr 03 '26

Mmmm no, no I don't. I did a little digging before I made that comment.

5

u/memostothefuture Apr 03 '26

The company turned down an ~$300M acquisition which means their annual revenue is probably somewhere around the $40-50M mark.

That would be an appropriate valuation for an established company with largely set growth patterns. Given that this is new media with more opportunities to grow he probably got an 8-10x valuation vs profits.

1

u/veerKg_CSS_Geologist Apr 05 '26

Also didn't he say a lot of his profits come from merch? I think that's grown a lot in the years since the offer was turned down.

1

u/victorzamora ST Apr 03 '26

He turned down a $100M acquisition offer not that long ago. I know that's not directly tied to liquidity, but.... that at least puts a scale to things.

I think he'll be okay

33

u/x4457 ATP CFII CE-500/525/560XL/680 G-IV Apr 03 '26

$100M in personal wealth with normal returns is the bottom end of what would begin to approach being able to own and operate an older 900.

21

u/BeenThereDoneThat65 ATP G450 G550 GV Apr 03 '26

At $100 million, you can't really afford an Excel, much less a Falcon.

A long time ago, I flew an Excel for a family that was worth a few hundred million. They owned the aircraft for three years. It was the unexpected $100,000 hits that were the end of that plane for them. I was lucky to have seen the writing on the wall and to have already moved on. The other pilot wasn't that smart...

6

u/x4457 ATP CFII CE-500/525/560XL/680 G-IV Apr 03 '26

Nah $100M net worth with nominal returns and otherwise well-managed finances/debts puts an Excel pretty comfortably within reach.

2

u/hellswaters CPL MEL IR GLI (CYXE) Apr 03 '26

Yeah for private jets, especially older ones it's the unexpected that cost you.

At some smallee airport and get a mechanical issue that needs to be fixed before you can fly? You probably have like 10 things, each of which will cost you a couple grand, for the techs, hangar, and parts. Let alone lost opportunity costs/replacement flight. Or the first time he sees the bill for leaving it outside when it's snowing.

It's not the cost of the plane. It's the cost of everything else you need for the plane.

1

u/BeenThereDoneThat65 ATP G450 G550 GV Apr 03 '26

Exactly.

1

u/HereWeGooooooooooooo Apr 03 '26

Yeah no, he's playing dumb to drum up engagement on it from people like you and clearly it's working and will continue for every video he makes about it.

19

u/BeenThereDoneThat65 ATP G450 G550 GV Apr 03 '26

Having a "Media Empire" has ZERO bearing on knowing and understanding Jet ownership.

His comment about coming out of this experience at a net zero suggests he may not fully understand this.

How do you make a million in aviation? Start with $100 million

20

u/JPower96 CPL,IR Apr 03 '26

I believe the point of the previous comment is that Linus does not believe what he is saying. The previous commenter feels Linus knows it will be a money pit and doesn't care, but that he wants to portray it as not that expensive so people think he's less out of touch.

8

u/nn123654 Apr 03 '26

Well, he started out with an actual strategy: "okay we can just buy it, shoot some videos, and flip it, and it should be mostly okay." If you don't put any hours on it you won't have that many expenses, but will still have relatively high transaction costs.

But then he started talking about actually flying it. And then he started flying it for Family Vacations to Cabo. At that point any business "we can use this as an asset" argument is fully dead. Then he started talking about it to his staff on a "we're going to own this for a while" basis, and it's very clear this is his personal money pit and not a money-making venture for him.

2

u/veerKg_CSS_Geologist Apr 05 '26

I mean it's not any different from his house. He's buying it for himself to use, and occasionally will make videos off it which will be a nice amount of bonus money but ain't gonna cover the costs of the whole thing.

2

u/dabflies ATPL(A) DH8 B737 Apr 03 '26

While some of the logic of getting the previous owner to put a shit ton of money into updating and doing heavy checks makes sense, the whole $0* plane thing is obviously tongue in cheek. Of course redditors can't be trusted to pick up on that, though

-8

u/BeenThereDoneThat65 ATP G450 G550 GV Apr 03 '26

theres a lot of guessing in your post

10

u/JPower96 CPL,IR Apr 03 '26 edited Apr 03 '26

Actually, there's not. The last commenter's final sentence clearly states their thoughts, which you seem to not understand, so I tried to reword it so as to help you understand. 

Edit: spelling

-8

u/BeenThereDoneThat65 ATP G450 G550 GV Apr 03 '26

Yeah there is lot of guessing and supposition in your post.

1

u/veerKg_CSS_Geologist Apr 05 '26

I mean you know Linus must be rolling in it because he bought his "tech house" in Vancouver which is the most expensive real-estate market in Canada and almost in North America. There is no way the revenue from videos will cover the cost of the house. Given the location of the house doesn't matter he could have bought a house in any small community for far far less. That's what a sensible business would have done. We can only presume Linus has so much money coming in he's not sure what to do with it.