Who Is MKBHD? Marques Brownlee’s Career, Panels and What’s Known of His Wealth

Marques Brownlee has reviewed tech on YouTube since his high school years and runs a studio with a podcast, merch and a Ridge partnership. Forbes estimates his yearly earnings, but no one has published his net worth. Here is the documented record.

MKBHD is Marques Brownlee, the New Jersey tech reviewer whose YouTube videos can make or break a gadget launch. The plain answer on MKBHD net worth is that no wealth tracker has published one; what Forbes has published is an estimate of his 2026 creator earnings, $10.9M, alongside documented business moves from a podcast to a short-lived wallpaper app.

Where it stands: Forbes ranked Brownlee 27th on its 2026 Top Creators list and describes him as chief creative partner at Ridge, the wallet and accessories maker, according to his Forbes profile.

Quick facts

Item Detail
Name Marques Brownlee
Known for MKBHD tech reviews, Waveform podcast
Age 32 (Forbes, 2026)
Business ties Ridge (chief creative partner), Panels (closed 2025)
Forbes earnings $10.9M (2026 Top Creators)
Wealth estimate None published

Who is MKBHD?

He is one of YouTube’s longest-running technology reviewers. Forbes says Brownlee, who is from New Jersey, started reviewing gear as a high school student and now has 21 million YouTube subscribers watching reviews “that can launch or sink a product.”

By 2019 he could already describe a decade of work. Announcing his podcast that year, Brownlee, then 25, said in a statement quoted by Tubefilter: “Over the last ten years and one thousand plus videos, I’ve built one of the largest tech channels on YouTube.”

Outside video, he is an elite ultimate frisbee player. Tubefilter reported that his club team, the New York Empire, has won three league championships, and that he scored the winning point when the U.S. team won the mixed division final at the 2024 World Ultimate Championship. He paused the channel to compete, then came back in time to review the iPhone 16, the outlet noted.

How MKBHD built a studio business

Brownlee has added formats around the main channel rather than leaving it, several of them through outside partners.

  • Waveform podcast. Launched in 2019 with Studio71. In 2021 it moved into the Vox Media Podcast Network, with Vox handling ad sales, marketing and distribution, Tubefilter reported. He co-hosts it with Andrew Manganelli.
  • Retro Tech. A YouTube Premium series co-produced by Vox, which Tubefilter later described as Emmy-nominated.
  • The Studio. A second channel for vlogs and behind-the-scenes content, opened in 2021.
  • Ridge. Forbes says he serves as chief creative partner and has released a branded collection of chargers, suitcases and keychains.

None of these deals has a disclosed dollar value.

How MKBHD makes money

The documented streams are YouTube advertising and sponsorships, the podcast, and brand partnerships such as Ridge. Forbes combines them in its annual Top Creators estimate, which put his 2026 earnings at $10.9M.

That number is earnings, not wealth. Earnings measure money coming in over a period; net worth would require knowing his savings, investments, property and debts, none of which are public.

Panels: the app that did not work

Panels was Brownlee’s first app, a paid wallpaper service launched in September 2024 and closed at the end of 2025. It is the clearest documented case of a business he started and ended.

The model charged users $50 per year, or $12 per month, for high-resolution wallpapers, with payments split 50-50 with artists, according to TechCrunch. Launch-week reaction was harsh: Tubefilter reported that comments on the announcement video were overwhelmingly negative about the design, pricing, ad load and data collection. TechCrunch reported that the App Store listing showed Panels could track location, usage data and identifiers across apps. Brownlee responded publicly that the team was “fixing the excessive data disclosures, as people rightfully brought up,” said he would dial back ad frequency, and told critics of the price, “I hear you!”

The early ranking did not last. Panels reached No. 1 in photo apps during its launch month, but over its life it logged about 900,000 downloads and $95,000 in consumer spending, according to Appfigures data cited by TechCrunch. Brownlee said in a video: “We knew it was niche, but we made mistakes in making our first app, and ultimately, we weren’t able to turn it into the vision I had.” The Panels site says the development team changed in early 2025, that the app code was open sourced under the Apache 2.0 license, and that active subscriptions were refunded after the December 31, 2025 shutdown.

The episode carries a lesson Tubefilter drew at launch: a reviewer who sells products in the category he critiques is judged by his own standards. In the outlet’s words, such creators “need to make sure those products are very, very good.” No figures on what Panels cost to build have been published.

MKBHD net worth: what the estimates say

Brownlee is absent from the billionaire and rich lists kept by Forbes and Bloomberg, and from the Sunday Times Rich List, and no outlet has run its own calculation. The only dated financial figure from a major outlet is Forbes’ earnings estimate for 2026.

Some facts help frame it without producing a number. He has run a channel for well over a decade, holds a creative role at Ridge, and has a podcast distributed by Vox, but the terms of the Ridge and Vox arrangements are private and no ownership stakes have been disclosed. Any dollar figure for his net worth found online is not backed by a reputable published method, and we do not repeat one.

For comparison, see how the record looks for other YouTube builders: MrBeast, Mark Rober and Ryan Trahan.

Recent news

The most recent dated development is Forbes’ 2026 list, last updated June 23, 2026, which placed him 27th. Forbes’ profile notes his reviews now span bionic hands, humanoid robots and self-driving cars.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is MKBHD’s net worth?

There is no published estimate. Forbes, Bloomberg and other wealth trackers have not put a figure on Marques Brownlee’s net worth as of October 2026. Forbes’ 2026 Top Creators list did put his earnings at $10.9M, which counts what he took in, not what he owns.

How much does MKBHD make?

Forbes estimated his earnings at $10.9M on its 2026 Top Creators list, ranking him 27th. His deals with Ridge and Vox have not had their values disclosed.

What happened to the Panels app?

Brownlee launched Panels in September 2024 and shut it down on December 31, 2025. TechCrunch, citing Appfigures, reported about 900,000 downloads and $95,000 in consumer spending over its life. The code was released as open source.

How old is MKBHD?

Forbes lists his age as 32 on its 2026 Top Creators profile.

Sources

Net worth figures are estimates published by the outlets named, on the dates shown. They are not disclosed by the people profiled, they move with markets and private valuations, and different publications reach different numbers. Net Worth Rankings is not affiliated with anyone profiled here.