CNN founder Ted Turner, the outspoken and often outrageous television pioneer, has died at age 87.
The network said Turner died on Wednesday, citing a news release from Turner Enterprises.
In September 2018 Turner revealed that he had Lewy Body Dementia, a degenerative nerve disease.
Turner transformed an obscure Atlanta television station into the first satellite-based “superstation“ and founded Cable News Network (CNN), the first 24-hour, all news TV network.
The brash southerner owned sports teams, was a champion yacht racer and was married to actress Jane Fonda for 10 years. The onetime “Mouth of the South“ once quipped: “If only I had a little humility, I’d be perfect.“
Turner created CNN in 1980, revolutionising the way America, and the world, got their news, and then went on to become one of the most prominent business leaders and philanthropists of his era.
A brash risk taker, Turner — whose death aged 87 was announced on Wednesday — helped reshape the television industry in the late 20th century.
He also made a name for himself with spectacular business deals, his ownership of professional sports clubs, a marriage to actress Jane Fonda, his leadership of a competitive yachting team and then a devotion to charitable and environmental causes.
Born in Cincinnati, Ohio in November 1938, Robert Edward “Ted” Turner III went to a military boarding school in Tennessee, and then attended Brown University, but was expelled before graduating.
Turner took over a faltering family advertising business after his father, despondent over financial problems, committed suicide.
After buying a number of radio stations, Turner’s purchase of a struggling Atlanta station in 1970 was his first move into television.
Ten years later, that became the flagship of his nationwide Turner Broadcasting System, the profits from which he parlayed into the launch of CNN.
CNN launched in 1980 as the first 24-hour cable news network, gaining traction in the United States and later internationally.
The launch came as viewers were shifting from broadcast to cable and CNN became a key source of news during the 1990-1991 Gulf War, delivering extensive live coverage using satellite technology.
CNN’s success inspired the creation of other 24-hour news channels including Fox News by longtime Turner rival Rupert Murdoch, MSNBC and countless station worldwide.
Turner’s television empire expanded beyond CNN and included TBS and TNT channels for sports and entertainment, Turner Classic Movies and Cartoon Network, among others.
As his television empire expanded, Turner made a failed bid to acquire CBS in the 1980s and then briefly acquired MGM/UA Entertainment Co. studios.
Turner sold the Hollywood group back months later, while keeping the rights to large portions of its catalog including films from MGM.
Blockbuster deals
His deals got bigger in the 1990s when Turner Broadcasting merged with Time Warner in 1996, making him vice chairman of the media-entertainment powerhouse.
In 2001, AOL (previously America Online) completed its purchase of Time Warner for $165 billion in the biggest merger in corporate history.
But the deal had to be unwound within a decade with the falling fortunes of AOL, which used an inflated share price for the deal. Turner, the biggest shareholder of Time Warner, lost billions from the deal.
Turner bought the Atlanta Braves baseball team in 1976 and the team made several World Series appearances, winning in 1995. He sold his interest as part of the Time Warner deal, but the team continued to play on Turner Field until 2016.
He also owned the Atlanta Hawks NBA team and Atlanta Thrashers NHL team, both of which were transferred to Time Warner as part of the 1996 megadeal.
In other sports endeavors, Turner successfully skippered the US yacht Courageous to win the 1977 America’s Cup.
A yachting incident intensified the rivalry between Turner and Murdoch in 1983 when a Murdoch-sponsored yacht collided with Turner’s in the Sydney-Hobart race, sinking Turner’s schooner.
