We’re way past peak TED Talk — maybe a new “Vision Steward” can revitalize the nonprofit
It’s a new chapter for TED, which seems likely to lean further into edtech.
TED — the company that became known as the online go-to for illuminating, if somewhat formulaic, talks on everything from body language to spam emails — has called off its eight-month search for a new boss, announcing that it’s found the “beautiful answer” to who will lead the company into the future.
That solution? New “Vision Steward” Sal Khan, the founder of Khan Academy, a pioneering not-for-profit edtech company that offers resources for millions of kindergarten- to college-aged students across the world. Khan, who’s hosted his own TED Talks on various educational methods, will take the reins from Chris Anderson, who turned the company into a charity and changed its fortunes after buying it for $14 million when it was languishing in the wake of the dot-com crash in 2001.
With Anderson stepping back to focus on the fundraising and philanthropic side of the nonprofit business, Logan McClure Davda, who was previously TED’s head of impact, will take over the day-to-day running of the operation as new CEO, while Khan will stay on as chief of Khan Academy and won’t be paid by TED, but will shape the institution’s future more broadly.
The new “Vision Steward” is walking into a company whose best-known offerings, the wisdom-imparting talks from the likes of Bill Gates and Adam Driver made at the company’s popular conferences, now seem a little dated.
As The Economist pointed out last week, the company’s financials have flourished under Anderson: revenues rose above the $100 million mark in 2023, while some potential suitors valued the company at $1 billion since February, per the boss. However, YouTube search interest in the clips from its conferences, where standard tickets cost as much as $12,500, has waned.
Indeed, of the 40 most viewed videos on TED’s official channel, only one was uploaded within the last five years. Searches on YouTube for “ted talk,” meanwhile, peaked in May 2017, thanks to popular uploads such as Elon Musk talking about the future and The Boring Company, which he’d launched earlier that year.
