Media maverick and CNN founder Ted Turner died Wednesday (local time) at the age of 87, the network confirmed, citing a report from Turner Enterprises. His passing marked the end of an era for the media industry worldwide.
After his death, there has been renewed interest in the media mogul’s net worth, his family and legacy, and how one man changed the way the world consumes news.
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As of May 6, Forbes estimated Ted Turner’s net worth at $2.3 billion. His fortune previously peaked at around $10 billion before falling after the AOL-Time Warner merger.
Ted Turner began his media career at age 24 by taking over his father’s billboard company, Turner Outdoor Advertising, after his father’s suicide. He later expanded into radio and television.
Ted Turner’s most notable achievement was launching CNN in 1980, pioneering the world’s first 24-hour news network. It revolutionized the way people consumed news by providing round-the-clock coverage of global events.
In addition to CNN, Ted Turner was involved in various businesses, including owning sports teams such as the Atlanta Braves, acquiring the MGM film library, becoming a major landowner, and founding the United Nations Foundation.
CNN was groundbreaking because it offered round-the-clock news at a time when most Americans relied on scheduled evening broadcasts. This provided instant access to world events and fundamentally changed global journalism.
Read also | Media mogul Ted Turner dies at 87: Here’s a look at his life and achievements
Ted Turner Net Worth
According to Forbes, Turner’s net worth is $2.3 billion as of May 6, and he ranks 1,504th on the list of the world’s richest billionaires. While Turner is largely remembered as a media mogul and pioneer of the 24-hour news cycle, much of his wealth later came from extensive land holdings, making him one of the largest private landowners in the United States. At its peak, his fortune reportedly touched $10 billion before plummeting following the AOL-Time Warner merger.
Between 2017 and 2026, Turner’s wealth ranged between $2.2 billion and $2.8 billion.
The Early Life of Ted Turner
Ted Turner was born Robert Edward Turner III in Cincinnati, Ohio on November 19, 1938. At the age of four, shortly after his sister was born, he was sent to boarding school, which he disliked. Turner had a difficult relationship with his father, who had a penchant for alcohol and disciplined Turner with a leather strap or wire brace, CNN reported.
His family later moved to Savannah, Georgia, where his sister, who was 12, contracted a rare form of lupus. After his sister contracted the disease, Turner once said his faith was shaken. “She was sick for five years before she died. And it seemed so unfair because she didn’t do anything wrong,” Turner said. “What did she do wrong? And I couldn’t get any answers. Christianity couldn’t answer that for me. So my faith was kind of shaken.”
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His father also sent him to several rigorous Southern military schools and expected him to be accepted to Harvard. However, Turner attended another Ivy League school-Brown University, after which his father was unhappy and cut off his tuition because he did not agree with his major.
Ted Turner’s career
Turner, often known as the “Mouth of the South”, acted in various capacities. He was a philanthropist who founded the United Nations Foundation. He was also an activist who pushed for the worldwide elimination of nuclear weapons. As a conservationist, he became one of the leading landowners in the US.
He began his media career at the age of 24 after taking over billboard company Turner Outdoor Advertising following his father’s suicide. He buried his shock and grief at work – but Turner wasn’t content to push other people’s products forever.
His defining achievement, however, was the launch of CNN at a time when most Americans relied on the regular evening broadcasts of traditional television networks. The media personality wanted to dramatically expand the scope of television news and imagine programs on business, health, sports and other topics. He admitted that he knew “diddley-squat” about reporting, but he recruited the right people to do it, like Reese Schonfeld, the founding president of CNN. This was after he voiced criticism of broadcast television and government news rulings.
While his idea to introduce round-the-clock news was initially ridiculed by critics, some of whom dismissed the channel as a “chicken noodle network”, it was during the Gulf War of the 1990s that the importance of a 24-hour news channel became apparent. It was the first time the war was broadcast live, only on CNN.
Read also | Trump pays tribute to Ted Turner, but slams his ‘baby’ CNN: ‘Woke up’
Trump pays tribute to media mogul
Shortly after the news of Turner’s death was published, US President Donald Trump paid tribute to the media maverick. In a post on Truth Social, he wrote: “Ted Turner, one of the all-time greats, just passed away,” adding: “One of the greats in broadcasting history and a friend of mine. Whenever I needed him, he was there, always willing to fight for a good cause.”
Key things
- Ted Turner was a pioneer in the media industry, notably for founding CNN and introducing the 24-hour news cycle.
- Much of his wealth was derived from land holdings, making him one of the largest private landowners in the US
- Turner’s life was marked by personal problems, including a difficult family background, which affected his philanthropic and activist efforts.
