Ted Turner, the founder of CNN. Biography

Ted Turner, a media mogul, philanthropist and founder of CNN, who revolutionized journalism by creating the first 24-hour news channel, died on May 6 at the age of 88. Turner, known for his eccentric personality and bold business decisions, turned his father's small advertising company into a global media empire, and at the end of his life devoted himself to charity and environmental protection. About his youth, career, personal life and legacy — in the material of Izvestia.

Early years and education

Turner was born on November 19, 1938, in Cincinnati, Ohio, into a wealthy family. His father, Robert Edward Turner II, owned a successful outdoor advertising business, the Turner Advertising Company. Mother is Florence Turner.

Turner's childhood was spent in a difficult family environment. His father was an alcoholic, suffered from mood swings and used physical punishment on his son. According to Turner's own memoirs, a tough upbringing "made me a better person." At the age of four, during World War II, his father was drafted into the Navy, and Ted was sent to a military boarding school in Georgia.

Turner attended private military boarding schools, including McCallie School in Tennessee, where he became a state debating champion. In 1956, he entered Brown University (Ivy League University), where he studied classical philology, was captain of the sailing team and vice president of the debating society. In 1989, the university awarded him a bachelor's degree.

Career

In 1960, Turner began working in the family business. The turning point came on March 5, 1963, when his father committed suicide amid debt and depression. 24-year-old Turner had to take over the management of the unprofitable Turner Advertising Company. He managed not only to save the business, but also to turn it into a profit.

In 1970, Turner bought an unprofitable Atlanta television station, WJRJ-TV. In three years, he made it one of the few profitable independent stations in the United States. In December 1976, he began broadcasting the signal via satellite, turning the station into the first U.S. "superstation" available to cable systems nationwide.

Later, on June 1, 1980, Turner launched CNN, the world's first 24—hour news channel. CNN quickly proved its worth by covering live the disaster of the space shuttle Challenger (1986) and the Gulf War (1991).

At the same time, Turner expanded his empire: in 1976, he bought the Atlanta Braves baseball team, and in 1977— the Atlanta Hawks basketball team. In 1986, he acquired the MGM/UA film company with a library of over 4,000 films, which caused a scandal due to his decision to "colorize" some classic black-and-white films.

In the 1990s, Turner created TNT (1988), Cartoon Network (1992), and Turner Classic Movies (1994). In 1996, his Turner Broadcasting System was bought by Time Warner for $7.5 billion. Turner became vice chairman of Time Warner and head of all cable channels of the combined company.

Personal life

Ted Turner was married three times. His first wife was Julia Gail Nye, whose marriage lasted from 1960 to 1964. He married Jane Shirley Smith for the second time, and their union lasted from 1965 to 1988. Turner's third and most famous wife was the famous Hollywood actress and activist Jane Fonda — they were married from 1991 to 2001. The media mogul has five children left.: three sons — Robert Edward Turner IV, Beauregard Turner and Rhett Turner, as well as two daughters — Laura Lee Turner and Jenny Turner.

For his eccentric personality and penchant for loud, sometimes scandalous statements, Turner received the nicknames "The Mouth of the South" and "Captain Outrageous."

Philanthropy and recent years

Turner was not only a businessman, but also one of the largest philanthropists in history. In 1997, he announced a donation of $1 billion in support of the United Nations, founding the United Nations Foundation. In 2001, he created the Nuclear Threat Initiative, aimed at preventing the use of weapons of mass destruction.

Turner was also an environmentalist. He owned a ranch on more than 2 million acres of land (he was considered the largest private landowner in the United States), where he was engaged in restoring the bison population and developing eco-tourism. In addition, he co-authored the animated series Captain Planet (1990-1996), which promoted environmental awareness.

In 2018, Turner announced that he had been diagnosed with Lewy body dementia.

Turner died on May 6, 2026, at the age of 88. This was reported by CNN. The exact cause of death is not specified in official reports.