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Turner got his start in 1970 when he bought a struggling Atlanta TV station and turned it profitable. He then used satellite technology to beam the station nationwide, creating one of the first cable “superstations.” That success led to Turner Broadcasting System and a string of influential networks, including CNN—the first 24-hour news channel—along with TNT, Cartoon Network, and Turner Classic Movies. In 1996, his company was acquired by Time Warner in a $7.5 billion deal.
What is Ted Turner best known for?
Turner is best known as the founder of CNN, which transformed how television news is delivered by making it a 24-hour, global service. He also built a cable empire that reshaped the industry, owned major sports franchises like the Atlanta Braves and Hawks, and later became one of the largest private landowners in the United States, with a focus on conservation and bison restoration.
What did Ted Turner do after leaving the media business?
After the Time Warner merger, Turner shifted much of his focus to philanthropy and environmental work. He pledged $1 billion to create the United Nations Foundation, cofounded the Nuclear Threat Initiative, and supported conservation through the Turner Foundation. His ranches were used for sustainability efforts and to help rebuild the U.S. bison population.
Turner grew up in an affluent family; his father owned a successful billboard-advertising company. In 1956 Turner enrolled at Brown University but was expelled three years later, reportedly for having a woman in his dormitory room. Turner joined the family business, which was based in Atlanta, and became the general manager of one of the company’s branch offices in 1960. Following his father’s suicide in 1963, Turner took over the ailing business and restored it to profitability.
Media empire
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Ted Turner.
UN Photo
In 1970 Turner purchased a financially troubled UHF television station in Atlanta, and within three years he made it one of the few truly profitable independent stations in the United States. In 1975 Turner’s company was one of the first to use a new communications satellite to broadcast his station (later renamed WTBS, or TBS, the Turner Broadcasting System) to a nationwide cable television audience, thereby greatly increasing revenues. To reflect the business’s shift from billboards, Turner renamed it Turner Communications Company, and in 1979 the venture became known as Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.
Turner went on to create two other highly successful and innovative cable television networks: CNN (Cable News Network; 1980), the first 24-hour news channel, and TNT (Turner Network Television; 1988). Through the Turner Broadcasting System, he also purchased the Atlanta Braves major league baseball team in 1976 and the Atlanta Hawks professional basketball team in 1977. In 1986 he bought the MGM/UA Entertainment Company, which included Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s library of more than 4,000 films. Turner set off a storm of protest when he authorized the “colorizing” of some of the library’s black-and-white motion pictures.
The large debt burden sustained from these purchases compelled Turner to almost immediately sell off not only MGM/UA but also a share of the Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., though he retained control of it. He also kept ownership of the MGM movie library, which included many Hollywood classics. In 1991 he married actress-activist Jane Fonda; they divorced in 2001.
Hollywood, backlash, and the spotlight
Turner’s move into Hollywood came with an agenda. After acquiring the MGM film library, he pushed to colorize black-and-white classics, arguing it would broaden their appeal. The industry pushed back hard, turning the effort into one of his most public missteps.
His 1991 marriage to Jane Fonda placed him at the center of a different kind of spotlight, linking his growing media influence with celebrity and political activism. By the time they divorced in 2001, Turner’s business empire was also entering a period of upheaval following the AOL Time Warnermerger—an inflection point that marked the start of his declining influence within the company he built.
Turner resumed the expansion of his media empire in the 1990s with the creation of the Cartoon Network (1992) and Turner Movie Classics (1994). He also oversaw the purchase (1993) of two motion-picture production companies, New Line Cinema and Castle Rock Entertainment. In 1996 the media giant Time Warner Inc. acquired the Turner Broadcasting System for $7.5 billion. As part of the agreement, Turner became a vice-chairman of Time Warner and headed all of the merged company’s cable television networks. When Time Warner merged with Internet company AOL in 2001, Turner became vice-chairman and senior adviser of AOL Time Warner Inc. In 2003 he resigned as vice-chairman of that company, and three years later Turner announced that he would not seek reelection to its board of directors.
Philanthropist, conservationist, and sportsman
Turner was a noted philanthropist and environmentalist. He donated some $1 billion to establish (1998) the United Nations Foundation, and he created (2001) the Nuclear Threat Initiative, which sought to prevent the use of weapons of mass destruction. He provided extensive funding to conservation efforts through his Turner Foundation (created 1990). Turner was one of the largest landowners in the United States, and many of his ranches were involved in sustainability and ecotourism. He oversaw efforts to rebuild and promote the country’s bison herd, and in 2002 he cofounded Ted’s Montana Grill, a restaurant chain that reportedly had the world’s “largest bison menu.” He also cocreated and cowrote the animated children’s series Captain Planet and the Planeteers (1990–96), which centers on teenaged environmental activists.
In addition, Turner was an avid sportsman, especially known as a yachtsman. He piloted Courageous to win the America’s Cup in 1977. He also founded and sponsored the Goodwill Games (1986–2001), citing his hope of easing Cold War tensions through friendly athletic competition.
Turner was the recipient of numerous honors, including a Peabody Award in 1997. In 2006 he received the Bower Award for Business Leadership from the Franklin Institute—a premier science and technology education and development center in Philadelphia. In April 2007 Junior Achievement—a nonprofit educational organization that provides hands-on business training programs to youths throughout the world—inducted Turner into its U.S. Business Hall of Fame. In 2008 Turner released his autobiography, Call Me Ted.
In 2018 Turner announced that he had been diagnosed with Lewy body dementia.
