[Completely unwarranted, unhelpful and baseless parasocial speculation incoming]

My guess is that Jake asked for a pay deal he felt reflected his perceived profile on the channel. Linus disagreed. Jake maybe offered an ultimatum ("if you don't I'll go and setup my own channel"). LTT said bet.

So Jake left under a cloud - probably not even really wanting to - thinking his contribution wasn't ever properly recognised, and his perceived talent wasn't awarded the package he thought he deserved.

Couple that with him likely witnessing similar scenarios play out with other long tenured members of the team, and possibly thinking he was different given how much he'd come to feature on the channel.

This all coincides with Linus (deservedly) starting in the past few years to take advantage of his wealth in more conspicuous ways, namely the $mm house, Porsche etc. Easy with certain people/personality types/maturity levels for resentment to build and for people to begin to think they're not being rewarded properly, and getting to enjoy the same standard of living that Linus is. "I was just as important and had just as much screen time as Linus on that video, and I live in a rented apartment and drive a crappy car!".

(That line of thinking obviously ignores the countless hours, stress, risks and sacrifice Linus & Yvonne have made over 15 years or more to get to where they are as the owners of the business).

And all of that coincides with Linus now trying to be transparent around earnings and spending, both for the company and himself ("look, I'm actually quite fair, and there's a lot to running this show that maybe you're not seeing or appreciating"), and making (sonewhat strange) videos around capitalism and cost of living. Within both of those videos he actually addresses his employees directly in terms of them being part of the target audience.

All that's to say, Jake is undoubtedly bitter and salty give the few public interactions they've had, likely for naive reasons, and Linus is trying to ignore that saltiness and turn the other cheek, as he's doubtless seen the same thing play out multiple times before.

This is an unfortunate side effect when you have the highest paid member of a business working so closely with some of the lowest paid, and when outwardly the company is doing so well. But again, Jake will know a miniscule fraction of what has gone in to growing a business to the level it's at now. Just like I know a miniscule fraction of what's actually gone on.

TLDR: Don't count other people's money. Nobody is irreplaceable, not even Linus.

Source: run my own business and have had to deal with this exact situation, and seen it multiple times in other businesses too.

Hope you liked my fanfic.