As chief content officer of Forbes, Randall Lane oversees the magazine’s signature list of billionaires, tracking the richest people on Earth. But he has noticed that this prompts the ultra-wealthy to stockpile their money instead of spending it on the public good. He debuts a new ranking — True Net Worth — that applauds billionaires for their philanthropy and rewards generosity. Guess who’s in the top five? (Recorded at TED2026 on April 16, 2026)
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@DarkoNomad
April 21, 2026 at 8:29 am
Charities are creating more problems than they are solving.
Taxing the rich might be the only solution to create just society and opportunities for poor.
Poor people don’t need money, they need more opportunities to earn and live properly.
@sadiyaadado4709
April 21, 2026 at 12:16 pm
Yes you need for watch my tedx talk on ths issue
@matthewzaksheske4211
April 21, 2026 at 8:37 am
Capitalism cannot exist without exploitation. What an incredibly bad take.
@jax4java
April 21, 2026 at 8:51 am
Absolutely not. Billionaires are the pariah of humanity. Propaganda much? Bullshit, TED. You have really lowered your standards and no longer represent quality media. Bye.
@warnerww83
April 21, 2026 at 9:18 am
Need billionaires? That’s an interesting take. I would probably have a more favorable opinion of them if they didn’t work so hard to ensure wealth is consolidated firmly in their hands. Pay your taxes, not your lobbyist, and we’d want to grab torches and pitchforks a lot less when talking about you.
@grantralston4805
April 21, 2026 at 9:53 am
Donation emphasis is great, however, taxation of the rich is guaranteed to be great. We need a wealth tax that actually works.
@vancouverlife1
April 21, 2026 at 10:19 am
Actually most people would be happy with much less than a billion bucks. The world would be much better if it was easier to get to “financial independence” and no poverty. Technology seems the only way and that seems to be happening. More people can learn what to do via online tools. Most of the billionaires seem to have achieved it providing assorted technology. Not a fan of the tax idea as the government had already grown quite large with more spending than the billionaires combined. Hmm.
@haniehhedayati661
April 21, 2026 at 10:27 am
that’s not true! Iran has billionaires.
@haniehhedayati661
April 21, 2026 at 10:42 am
i don’t like the message. if someone gets rich, good for them! you come here saying don’t hate on them for being rich because they will donate their money for free and we should encourage them?! basically to leach on them.
@RadicalTrivia
April 21, 2026 at 11:03 am
Yeah or we could just tax them like we did last time.
@TatuSiltanen
April 21, 2026 at 11:10 am
The real question is not how much they donate, but how much they pay in taxes.
@joeldheath
April 21, 2026 at 11:11 am
The best thing a billionaire can do for the world is become a centimillionaire
@chasmenear7130
April 21, 2026 at 11:34 am
The problem with billionaires is that they are billionaires….That and most of them are completely immoral idiots.🤔
@Brojak_Manhorse
April 21, 2026 at 12:31 pm
why cant i be a billionaire? is it because im poor?
@animaaura
April 21, 2026 at 12:39 pm
One can point to the same period during which we saw growth in Chinese billionaires and economic prosperity, but instead focus on socioeconomic markers in western countries. The number of billionaires exploded but everyone else is worse off, particularly the younger generations.
Pre-1980 the US was doing very well with very few billionaires, and with most people able to make a decent living for themselves with almost any job.
Yes, the factors that create wealth also create billionaires, but depending on where you’re starting from, they can also transfer massive amount of wealth from everyone to a few.
@auro1986
April 21, 2026 at 1:20 pm
only problem is when you have robbed everybody of everything then you can’t invent a new source of income for yourself
@mikerphone.
April 21, 2026 at 1:54 pm
Where do I get whatever this guy is smoking?
@dapulse7147
April 21, 2026 at 2:07 pm
6:13 We should reward them for paying taxes. Charity is even an expression af power if the billionaire decides what’s worth it.
@h.j.s1461
April 21, 2026 at 2:22 pm
Wow, chocked about majority toughts here. All against billionaires. They’re thinking is better then don’t exist. Or that is a good idea increase tax over then. What’s mentallity is it? 1984 coming fast even.
@NonAlignedThinker
April 21, 2026 at 2:24 pm
bad comparison.. you compared percent of net worth to percent of income.. shame shame shame
@AdityaMehendale
April 21, 2026 at 3:44 pm
Correlation is not causation.
F*ck charity – pay your fair share of (income- and property-)taxes.
@achrist2
April 21, 2026 at 3:53 pm
This is a masterclass in how to cloak misinformation as educational. Extreme wealth is only possible if many live in extreme poverty. If billionaires paid their fair share of tax, there would be more wealth circulating for everyone to benefit from. At the moment, they hoard wealth at least in part to starve necessary research and development into alternatives they would not personally (and exclusively) benefit from. They also force the workforce into a never ending cycle of working more for less until they die. Mackenzie Scott is exceptional and has been hurrying to do as much good as she can with her wealth. But “you can have it when I am dead” is not noble or generous when people are dying now and the climate crisis is approaching a tipping point we won’t be able to reverse.
@nishiki393
April 21, 2026 at 4:41 pm
Nonsense. We shouldn’t be relying on the charity of billionaires and trillionaires. This is what FAIR and proper tax code / tax policy is for.
@Scoobydcs
April 21, 2026 at 7:57 pm
i think this is backwards
@KodeeDentares
April 21, 2026 at 8:25 pm
Utter tripe.