Ted Turner
Ted Turner
DAVID GOLDMAN/AP
TV, cable. Atlanta. Ga. 43. Divorced, remarried, 5 children. Began in 1963 with dead father’s bankrupt billboard company; entered TV inauspiciously 1969. Acquired 87% Turner Broadcasting Co. 1974; pioneered satellite cable TV network. Company has negative net worth but shares increased tenfold. Yachtsman. Salty expresser of strong views. Stock worth $220 million.
From the Forbes 400 1982 Issue
Turner Broadcasting System. Marietta, Ga. 44. Divorced, remarried, 2 children by first marriage, 3 by second. Booted from Brown University: female found in fraternity room. At 24 took over late father’s bankrupt billboard company, sold space aggressively to rescue legacy. Parlayed into TV stations. Acquired 87% Turner Broadcasting 1974; Atlanta baseball Braves 1976; pioneered satellite cable TV news network 1980, now in 20 million households. Company has negative net worth but shares increased twentyfold. Champion yachtsman; canny opportunist; full of braggadocio: Talks about merging with, taking over major network. Stock worth $355 million.
From the Forbes 400 1983 Issue
Turner Broadcasting System. Roswell, Ga. 54. Twice divorced, 5 children; married actress Jane Fonda December 1991. Acquired small Atlanta TV station 1970, bought out partners; launching pad for “superstation” TBS 1976: beamed local programming to cable systems nationally via satellite. Now empire includes TBS and TNT (48% of revenues), CNN and Headline News (32%), MGM film library and Hanna-Barbera (13%), Atlanta (baseball) Braves and Atlanta (basketball) Hawks (4%). Big December: one week tied knot with Fonda, next week named Time Man of the Year for “redefining” news with CNN in year of Gulf war and communism’s collapse. In 1991 also acquired Hanna-Barbera parent. “I approve every project.” Politics in the future for Mr. Fonda? “You’ve got to make so many compromises and everything goes so slow. I like to move fast, make the decision and go.” Champion yachtsman now also raising buffalo on Montana ranch. Stock, other assets worth $1.9 billion.
From the Forbes 400 1992 Issue
$2.1 billion. Turner Broadcasting System. Roswell, Ga. 57. Twice divorced, remarried; 5 children. After lengthy thumb-twiddling by FTC, Turner Broadcasting/Time Warner combo poised to become world’s largest media conglomerate, Ted biggest Time Warner stockholder. Attended Brown U.; kicked out for girl in fraternity room, earned degree years later. Launched first 24-hour all-news network CNN 1980. Unfazed by Rupert Murdoch’s new all-news network challenge: “I’m looking forward to squishing Rupert like a bug.” TBS empire now includes TNT, Castle Rock Entertainment, MGM film library, Turner Pictures and New Line Cinema. Also owns Atlanta (basketball) Hawks and 1995 World Series champs Atlanta Braves. Turner Foundation’s $150 million endowment to be expanded to $500 million within next year: Green causes, please apply. Also pledged $75 million in stock 1995 to the Citadel, the McCallie School and Brown. Land rich, too: raises 12,000 bison on 6 ranches, including newly acquired 578,000-acre Vermejo Park Ranch, N.M. Married to Hollywood’s Jane Fonda. Member since 1982.
From the Forbes 400 1996 Issue
$5 billion. Cable television. Atlanta, Ga. 59. Twice divorced, remarried; 5 children. “If anybody has a whip here, I’ll just take my shirt off and beat myself until I’m bloody … If committing mass suicide would help, I’ve even given that some consideration.” So said Time Warner’s largest shareholder after CNN’s erroneous Vietnam War broadcast. But ego likely lifted by 61% rise of long-dormant Time Warner stock. Still has time for fly-fishing, also pets: roams with buffalo on 113,000-acre Montana ranch. After making a $1 billion pledge to the U.N., Turner ridiculed other billionaires for not increasing their benefactions. Having turned his father’s ailing billboard business into cable giant Turner Broadcasting Systems, sold 1996 to Time Warner for $9 billion. Now trying to start new pro football league with NBC. Member since 1982.
From the Forbes 400 1998 Issue
$2.2 billion. Cable television. Atlanta. Ga. 63. Thrice divorced, 5 children. AOL Time Warner’s largest shareholder also its biggest mouth. Reported outburst at board meeting prompted former AOL chief Jerry Levin to want “the poetry back” in his life, rather than a tormented one running the beleaguered media giant. Commentary outside the boardroom equally incendiary: jeopardized contracts with three Israeli cable operators after likening the nation’s recent military operations in Palestinian territory to terrorism. Cable pioneer has good reason to be irritable: AOL stock in gutter thanks to $54 billion writedown, federal probe, executive exodus. Even though personal fortune down 65% in the past year, still plans to honor $1 billion to the United Nations.
From the Forbes 400 2002 Issue
$2.3 billion. Cable television. Lamont, Fla. 69. Thrice divorced, 5 children. Cable news pioneer sold remaining stake in Time Warner 2006, retired from company’s board. Now focused on philanthropy, real estate, restaurant business. Has donated more than $1.5 billion to charity. Recently launched $200 million campaign to fight malaria in Africa through United Nations Foundation; also supports Nuclear Threat Initiative, Turner Endangered Species Fund. Nation’s largest individual landowner owns 2 million acres across 12 states and Argentina. Also commands 50,000 bison, nation’s largest herd. Ted’s Montana Grill serves bison burgers in 18 states, over 50 locations.
From the Forbes 400 2008 Issue