“I’m Definitely Cooked”: How a 9-Year-Old’s YouTube Ambition Cost His Dad $118K and His Job

When David (Dave) Sarkisyan was called into what he expected to be a standard work meeting, he did not anticipate walking into a boardroom filled with colleagues from corporate, management, and finance. After nervously settling in, they pulled up a laptop displaying tables, a spreadsheet, and a full breakdown of advertising spending from roughly the previous three weeks. They calmly asked Dave to explain the $118,000 charged to his company credit card. As anyone would, Dave requested they go through the ledger line by line.

It was only when they reached the transactions - references such as “Mighty Mike,” “Epic Roblox,” and Minecraft gameplay -that Dave’s gravest fears were confirmed.

Dave’s 9-year-old son, Mike, had been running a YouTube channel focused on Minecraft and Roblox gameplay (after Dave had encouraged it). Dave had earlier set up a small ~$20 YouTube ad campaign to boost the channel’s views and subscribers, walking Mike through the process of targeting, budgeting, and launching. Mike then created and ran his own much larger campaigns over the following three weeks, charging them to the saved company card. He reportedly saw it as “more money = more views” and did not fully grasp the real financial impact or that the spending was unauthorized (the card simply approved every charge).

To Dave’s credit, some of the promoted videos reached around 200,000 views each. Estimates put total views across the key videos at roughly 689,828, with about 9,320 new subscribers (roughly $12–13 per subscriber or ~$0.17 per view in some analyses). Amusingly, some viewers had already noticed the unusually long Minecraft and Roblox clips appearing as ads and even commented on the potential cost - comments that, sadly, were not seen until it was too late.

Honestly, after watching the YouTube video in which Dave breaks down exactly what happened, he comes across as one of the nicest dads imaginable. He described the moment he realized his 9-year-old son had spent $118,000 on the corporate card as triggering a personal crisis, noting that the total on the page “had about five more digits than it should have.”

In a later update video, Dave revealed he has lost his job and been given 30 days to repay just over $118,000. He and his wife have discussed the possibility of selling their house.

Thankfully, since Dave posted on Mike’s channel explaining the epic error, that video has amassed over 3.4 million views and the channel has grown to more than 200,000 subscribers. In a subsequent update, Dave mentioned that beyond global news outlets reaching out for interviews, Mike’s viewers have offered money, advice, likes, comments, and even job opportunities to help the family.

At the very end of the original video, after Dave poured his heart out about potentially losing his job, having to repay the full amount, and possibly ending Mighty Mike Plays, he calmly asked Mike if he had anything to say to his viewers. Mike replied, “I’m definitely cooked.” Let’s hope he isn’t.

In the meantime, if you want to support Dave’s family in keeping their house, they’ve started an e-commerce site with some pretty cool T-shirts. Go check it out: https://mightymikeplays.com/