People

Sal Khan Tutors Millions
By James Moreau | 02 Oct, 2025

Khan Academy transformed free education with an online library used by 180 million.

Salman Khan is an educator who founded Khan Academy, a non-profit educational platform that provides free world-class education to anyone with an internet connection.

In 2004, as Khan began tutoring his cousin in math, he began posting lesson videos on YouTube.  As of 2025 Khan Academy has over 180 million registered users globally and is available in more than 50 languages.  

The library of over 8,900 videos has surpassed 2.2 billion views on YouTube and cover a wide range of subjects for kindergarten through early college, including math, science, history, and SAT preparation.

One of the most viewed videos is a 2013 interview with Elon Musk with 6.9 million views.  Among Khan Academy’s top content are lessons in calculus, probability and biology which make up its core subjects.

NASA, Nova Labs, and the Asian Art Museum have all partnered with Khan Academy to create lesson plans that cover their expertise.

Khan Academy is primarily funded by donations from philanthropic organizations and individuals.  Bank of America, Comcast, and the Amgen Foundation have all donated over $10 million.

In 2022 Google security experts paired up with Khan to create an Internet Safety Course that provides actionable advice to keep online accounts secure.  Khan Academy also produced a 20-part series focused on personal finance in 2015 in partnership with Visa. Khan, 48, is a Bengali Muslim born in Metairie, Louisiana to a father from Bangladesh and a mother from India.   He earned two bachelor’s degrees from MIT – one in mathematics and one in electrical engineering and computer science, followed by an MBA from Harvard.  He worked from 2003 to 2009 as a hedge fund analyst at Connective Capital Management.