CNN founder Ted Turner has died at the age of 87.
The billionaire died on Wednesday, according to the cable news network he founded.
Turner had four children and was famously married to Hollywood star Jane Fonda between 1991 and 2001.
Nicknamed the ‘Mouth of the South’ for his outspokenness, Turner built a media empire that spanned several cable and satellite sports stations. For decades, he also owned the Atlanta Braves.
Turner founded CNN – the first 24-hour cable news channel – in 1980.
He was named Time’s ‘Man of the Year’ eleven years later for the station’s live coverage of current events.
CNN Worldwide CEO Mark Thompson acknowledged his passing in a statement.
A cause of death was not detailed, but Turner was known to be battling Lewy body dementia.
Ted Turner died aged 87 on Wednesday, according to CNN, which he founded
The billionaire media titan was married to actress Jane Fonda between 1991 and 2001
‘He was and always will be the presiding spirit of CNN,’ Thompson wrote of Turner.
‘Ted is the giant on whose shoulders we stand, and we will all take a moment today to recognize him and his impact on our lives and the world.’
Thompson further touted the TNT founder as an ‘intensely involved and committed leader, intrepid, fearless and always willing to back a hunch and trust his own judgment.’
Turner officially resigned from Turner Broadcasting System – which includes CNN – in 2006.
Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in November 1938, took over a faltering family billboard business after his father’s suicide before launching his television career with purchases of several radio stations and a struggling Atlanta station in 1970.
Within ten years, Turner managed to turn the channel around. He used the profits to help launch CNN, which quickly gained traction in the United States and later internationally.
The launch came as viewers were shifting from broadcast to cable, with CNN subsequently surfacing as a key source of news during the Persian Gulf War in the early 90s.
The channel’s success inspired the creation of several other 24-hour news channels since, including Fox News.
Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in November 1938, Turner took over a faltering family billboard business after his father’s suicide and transformed it into a sprawling media empire
Turner – seen here in Washington in 2013 – was also a major philanthropist, donating to several causes over the course of multiple decades
Turner’s television empire extended beyond CNN, however, with TBS and TNT, Turner Classic Movies and Cartoon Network among his other creations.
Turner also attempted to acquire CBS in the 80s but failed. He also owned Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) for a time, before selling off the storied studio for a fraction of what he paid to keep the rights to large portions of its film catalog.
The shrewd business move helped launch both TNT and Turner Classic Movies, while also allowing Turner to curate content for a then-growing TBS. Films like Gone with the Wind and The Wizard of Oz filled out time slots, as did syndicated programs like the Andy Griffith Show.
The deals continued – and grew in scope – in the 1990s, when Turner Broadcasting merged with Time Warner in 1996, making Turner vice chairman of a newly formed entertainment powerhouse.
In 2001, Time Warner merged with America Online in a $165billion deal that was the billed as the biggest merger in corporate history.
The merger, however, failed within a decade, largely due to the fall of AOL, which used an inflated share price for the deal during the height of its success. Turner, the biggest shareholder, lost billions.
Then in his mid-60s and semi-retired, Turner lost roughly $8billion as a result, he admitted at the time.
His net worth, as of Wednesday, was estimated to be $2.8 billion, according to Forbes. The advertising business he inherited from his late father was worth $1million.
Turner’s television empire extended beyond CNN, with TBS and TNT, Turner Classic Movies and Cartoon Network among his other creations
Turner is seen as a guest on Meet the Press in 2008
Turner remained Time Warner’s vice chairman until 2003 and a board member until 2006.
His 50-year career is widely seen as groundbreaking.
David Zaslav, the CEO of Turner asset Warner Bros. Discovery, hailed Turner as ‘a visionary, a trailblazer, and a foundational force behind many of the brands that are central to Warner Bros. Discovery’ in his own statement.
‘Ted’s entrepreneurial spirit, creative ambition and willingness to take risks changed the media industry forever.
‘He believed deeply in the power of ideas, in doing things differently and in building platforms that could inform, inspire and connect people around the world.
‘That belief inspired generations of leaders, myself included. He did not just disrupt media. He transformed it,’ said Zaslav.
Turner revealed to CBS in 2018 that he was battling Lewy body dementia, a progresive brain disorder that he played down as ‘a mild case of what people have as Alzheimer’s.’
‘It’s similar to that, but not nearly as bad,’ Turner told then-CBS Sunday Morning host Ted Koppel. ‘Tired. Exhausted. That’s the main symptoms. And forgetfulness,’ he said.
Turner at the official CNN launch event in Atlanta, Georgia, in June 1980. The station is widely credited with revolutionizing how Americans consume news
Turner was named Time’s ‘Man of the Year’ in 1991 for the CNN’s live coverage of current events like the Persian Gulf War
Donald Trump paid Turner respects on Wednesday as well, with a post to Truth Social.
The president, after panning CNN’s current leadership, called the tycoon ‘one of the Greats of Broadcast History’.
Trump also hailed him as ‘a friend.’
‘Whenever I needed him, he was there, always willing to fight for a good cause!’
Turner’s philanthropic efforts included the Goodwill Games, the Better World Society, the Nuclear Threat Initiative (in 2001) and the Turner Foundation.
In a 2010 plegde, he credited his philosophy on ‘giving back’ to his late father, whom he said ‘was also philanthropic with his own small resources.
‘Not only did he make contributions to causes that he cared about, he also supported the tuition of two African-American students at his alma mater, Milsaps College in the late 1950s,’ Turner said at the time.
‘ It made a big impression on me to see someone as hard-charging as my father take the time to quietly help out two young people like this.’
‘I’m particularly thankful for my father’s advice to set goals so high that they can’t possibly be achieved during a lifetime and to give help where help is needed most,’ he added.
Fonda once called Turner her ‘favorite ex-husband.’ Both married three times. The pair are seen with at their wedding in 1991
Turner is survived by his five children from his first two marriages. He and Fonda were wed for ten years
‘That inspiration keeps me energized and eager to keep working hard every day on giving back and making the world a better place for generations to come.’
Turner is survived by his five children from his first two marriages. Fonda, 88, was his third wife. The pair were wed for ten years before Fonda filed for divorce in April 2001.
Fonda – after also marrying three times – has since called him her ‘favorite ex-husband.’
Turner never remarried. Fonda attended an event in honor of a charity she and Turner cofounded while together in November.
‘Ted’s not here, but he is here in my heart, and I know he is here in a lot of our hearts,’ she said at the time.
In his later years, Turner was an active practitioner of yoga and was known to wander his immense Montana ranch on horseback.
It remains unclear when he received his dementia diagnosis. The disease also affected Robin William before his death in 2014, NPR reported.
