Ted Turner, Founder of CNN and TBS, Dies at 87

Ted Turner died Wednesday at the age of 87. The founder of Cable News Network transformed a tiny UHF station, Channel 17 in Atlanta, into CNN, TBS, TNT and Turner Classic Movies. He launched CNN on June 1, 1980, in Atlanta, Georgia, pioneering the modern 24-hour news culture that soon became central to the media landscape.

Turner took over the family billboard company after his father died by suicide. He bought a radio station in Atlanta, Georgia, that became the foundation of the Turner Broadcasting System, or TBS. U.S.

He owned the Atlanta Braves baseball team, the Atlanta Hawks basketball team and the Atlanta Thrashers ice hockey team. 5 billion acquisition of MGM film studios in 1985. In the 1990s he bought Castle Rock Entertainment and New Line Cinema before his company merged with Time Warner.

Beyond business, Turner won the America's Cup in 1977. In 1983 a Murdoch-sponsored yacht collided with his boat in an Australian race. He was married to Jane Fonda from 1991 until 2001 and in 2018 revealed he had Lewy body dementia.

Turner donated $1 billion to the United Nations. He promoted environmental causes, invested in clean energy and became known as a major philanthropist and bison rancher. President Donald Trump paid tribute to Turner as one of the greats of broadcast history and a friend of mine.

Trump said. Mark Thompson, the current CNN CEO and chairman, described Turner as the giant on whose shoulders we stand. Thompson said Turner was an intensely involved and committed leader, intrepid, fearless and always willing to back a hunch and trust his own judgement.

He added that Turner was and always will be the presiding spirit of CNN. Christiane Amanpour wrote on X: "Just remember when giants strode the world. " Mary Alice Williams told the BBC that Turner was a wild man and a go-for-broke idea guy.