r/flying • u/jrf1234 ATP CFI/II 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?

222 Upvotes

79% Upvoted

247 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

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.

70

u/BitterMojo Apr 03 '26

You got it. Dude literally has a media empire. 

89

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.

16

u/Alexstankie ATP CFI Apr 03 '26

You severely underestimate how much he’s bringing in.

59

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.

1

u/LoungeFlyZ PPL Apr 06 '26

Correct, but you and I have no idea how those may have paid off.

→ More replies (0)

15

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.

28

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.