Turner, Ted

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Turner, Ted

(1938-)
Turner Broadcasting

Overview

Robert Edward (Ted) Turner III, also known as the "Mouth of the South," has put his money where his mouth is to become a multimedia mogul. From his ownership of two professional sport teams and a love of yachting to his empire of seven cable networks and two movie studios, Ted Turner has become a billionaire three times over. He was also named biggest charitable donor in 1997 by pledging to the United Nations $100 million each year for the next 10 years.

Personal Life

Ted Turner was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on November 19, 1938. His parents, Ed and Florence Rooney Turner, moved Ted and his younger sister, Mary Jane, to Savannah, Georgia, when Ted was nine. Ted's father was described as an authoritarian who, at times, asserted his power by beating Ted with a wire coat hanger. Ted never felt like he could, or would, live up to his father's high standards.

Ed Turner enrolled his son in the Georgia Military Academy where Ted remained until high school. His father then sent Ted off to McCallie, a Tennessee military preparatory school. In 1955 Ted, representing his high school, won the Tennessee state debate contest, but he was also something of a rebel.

After graduating from high school, Turner wanted to attend the U. S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. However, his father put his heavy foot down and told Ted that he would attend Brown University and pursue a business degree. Nonetheless, Ted defied his father's authority when he decided to study humanities and the classics instead of business. This show of independence ignited a battle that became public after Turner published, in Brown's student newspaper, a letter that his father wrote, which completely made fun of him and his decision. However, this did not stop Turner's father. Ed continued wielding his influence until Turner finally broke down and changed his major to economics. Yet, Turner would never earn a degree from Brown. He was kicked out of Brown twice. First, he was suspended because of a rowdy party. Although he was allowed to return six months later, after a tour of duty with the Coast Guard, Turner was expelled a second time because he broke Brown's rule forbidding students from having guests of the opposite sex in their dorm rooms. Turner was not asked back.

Turner married three times—first to Judy Nye, with whom he has two children, Laura Lee and Robert Edward IV; second, in 1964, to Jane Smith, with whom he has three children, Beau, Rhett, and Jennie; and third, in 1991, to Jane Fonda. Turner and Fonda divorced in 2000.

Career Details

Turner actually began a full–time "career" at just nine years of age when his father had him work summers at his billboard company—Turner Advertising. Turner mowed the lawn around billboards and maintained their poles. He continued working summers at his father's company, although by college he had stopped cutting grass and had started working with customers as an account executive. Yet, Turner was not happy. He had wanted to work at the Norton Yacht Club in Connecticut, a club that would let Turner pursue his love of sailing by giving him the chance to race, but his father said no.

In 1960 Turner became general manager of Turner Advertising Company at its branch office in Macon, Georgia. For the next three years, Turner found that he did not have a strong liking for business. As Turner's success grew, so did his confidence, and in 1963, with this newfound confidence, Turner battled his father once again. In 1962 Ed Turner had overextended his budget by buying into the General Outdoor Advertising Company, and by 1963 Ed felt that he had too many financial obligations. He decided to sell his business. Turner became furious and confronted his father. He had become a successful businessman, just as his father had wanted, and he was not willing to simply give up on the business. But, on March 5, 1963, Ed Turner did give up—he killed himself. Turner stopped the sell–out plans and sold two family plantations to help cover business debts. Over the next seven years, Turner worked hard to get the family business, now his business, back on track.

In 1970 after rebuilding the company—now known as Turner Communication Corporation—into a huge success, Turner stepped into the world of television. Television would never be the same again. Merging with Rice Broadcasting, Turner bought Channel 17, an independent Atlanta UHF station. With this station, Turner stomped out the local competition by cornering a 16 percent share of the TV audience. He won this huge audience by broadcasting Atlanta sports teams' games, movie reruns, and sitcoms. Just six months later, Turner further expanded his TV audience when he bought a second independent station, WRET–TV in Charlotte, North Carolina. For the next five years, Turner kept an eye on the progress of cable television, and in 1975 his station—now known as WTBS—became the first wholly cable station to be delivered to TV audiences via satellite. By the end of 1976, Turner's "superstation" was estimated to be worth $40 million dollars.

Turner was not solely focused on his work, however. In 1976 he bought Atlanta's baseball team, the Braves, and Atlanta's basketball team, the Hawks. He bought controlling interest in Atlanta's hockey team, the Flames. Turner was also a sportsman in his own right. In 1977 he captained his yacht the Courageous and won the America's Cup. This win granted him the title "Yachtsman of the Year." This award also, according to Les Brown's Encyclopedia of Television, "earned him the nickname 'Captain Courageous.'" However, "the [TV] industry and press [named him] 'Captain Outrageous,' for Turner's outspokenness, eccentric behavior, and derring–do in the business world." With this "derring–do," the purchase of three of Atlanta's sports teams, and his growing library of network reruns and movies, Turner's WTBS, in 1979, began broadcasting 24 hours a day.

However, Turner was not happy with just one cable station, albeit a "superstation." In 1980 Turner got what he wanted by creating the first U. S. 24–hour news station—Cable News Network (CNN). The television industry laughed at Turner's creation. Some wondered how Turner could profit with a 24–hour cable news station when broadcast networks like CBS, NBC, and ABC could not profit with their daily half–hour newscasts. He went on to launch a second news channel, Headline News Network, in 1982. This new network offered continuous half–hour news summaries. Both proved to be huge successes.

Still, Turner faced setbacks during the 1980s. He first made an unsuccessful bid to buy CBS. He then closed a $1.6 billion deal to gain control of the movie studio MGM's film library; this acquisition benefitted Turner, but its terms were less than favorable. To finance this deal, he had to give up some of his power when he was forced to sell off parts of his media empire to cable operators such as Tele–Communications, Inc. (TCI) and Time Warner. By 1986 Turner was once again standing tall when CNN began showing a profit and increasing its audience steadily. Also in 1986, Turner established his fourth cable station—Turner Network Television (TNT)—now known for its programming of WCW wrestling matches, theatrical movie reruns, and original movies.

In 1986 Turner's love of sports yet again pushed him into another new venture. Turner founded, financed, and broadcast the Goodwill Games. Turner wanted these Olympic–like games to foster better relations between Russia and the United States. For the next five years, Turner continued building his empire by purchasing the Hanna–Barbara animation studio and its cartoon library. He continued promoting peace through the second Goodwill Games in 1990, even though this endeavor cost him millions of dollars. During these five years, the popularity of CNN exploded due to its accurate and up–to–the–minute reporting of the Persian Gulf War. Thus, Turner was dubbed by some the "King of Cable," and was named "Man of the Year" in 1991 by Time magazine. That year Turner also married Academy Award–winning actress Jane Fonda.

In 1992 Turner established two more cable and satellite channels: the Airport Channel, which offered flight information at U. S. airports, and the Cartoon Network, which was supported by his recently purchased cartoon library. Two years later, Turner established yet another channel when he started broadcasting his MGM film library on Turner Classic Movies (TCM).

In a surprise move in a 1995, Turner accepted a $7.5 billion bid from Time Warner to buy Turner Broadcasting. With this deal, Turner became Time Warner's vice chairman and largest shareholder. The purchase in part helped Turner and Time Warner to fend off an aggressive television market attack by holdings of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, owner of the Fox network, among many other media interests.

Chronology: Ted Turner

1938: Born.

1960: Took over family business, Turner Advertising Company.

1970: Purchased first TV station.

1976: Bought the Atlanta Braves and the Atlanta Hawks.

1977: Won America's Cup yacht race.

1980: Formed Cable News Network (CNN).

1982: Launched Headline News.

1986: Established Turner Network Television (TNT).

1986: Purchased MGM/UA's movie studio and film library.

1991: Named Time's Man of the Year.

1991: Married Jane Fonda.

1992: Introduced Airport Channel and Cartoon Network.

1994: Began Turner Movie Classics, his seventh cable network.

1996: Purchased ranch acreage in New Mexico, for purpose of ecotourism and bison grazing.

1997: Pledged $1 billion in donations to United Nations causes.

1999: Sold mineral rights on New Mexico land for royalty, allowing drilling.

2000: Divorced Jane Fonda.

2001: Time Warner merged with America Online to form AOL Time Warner; set up Ted Turner Productions.

Turner was seldom hesitant to share the fortune he'd made from his many business ventures. Most dramatically, in 1997 he announced that he would donate $1 billion to the United Nations (UN) through a special foundation he created for the cause. His massive contribution came in the wake of his periodic criticisms of other billionaires for not giving enough back to society. Turner had long been associated with environmental and other charitable causes. In an explanation of his gift to the UN, Turner told Howard Fineman in Newsweek, "According to Jesus Christ, money is worthless. It won't buy you anything in heaven, if there is one. It might not even get you in." A Turner Networks employee speculated on additional motives behind Turner's unusual pledge to the UN, calling the pledge part of Turner's "Citizen Kane complex." Turner was apparently fascinated by the story of Citizen Kane, and Turner's son claimed that Turner "thought he was Kane, a guy who has everything and ends up with nothing." Turner's friends also suspected that his philanthropy was in part motivated by the fact that Turner didn't want to die rich and alone.

But Turner angered environmentalists in 1999 when he went against his previously stated intentions and decided to allow oil drilling operations on 578,000 acres of private property in New Mexico. Turner had stated when he bought the land in 1996 that it was to be used only by ecotourists and resident bison. He later sold the mineral rights to the property for a 3 percent royalty, which was expected to total $81 million over a period of 21 years.

By early 1999, Turner's wide array of business ventures included a large market share of the bison market, according to Insight on the News. Turner owned 17,000 head of bison on three ranches, was a major supplier of the North American Bison Cooperative, and sold $6 million to the federal government to feed poor Native American families. However, a competitor, the InterTribal Bison Cooperative, accused Turner of selling the best cuts of the meat to exotic restaurants and selling the government the fattiest cuts. Appearing embarrassed, Turner attempted a low profile on the issue by stepping out of the spotlight and merging his operations with an Omaha–based meat supplier.

In January 2000, AOL announced it would acquire Time Warner, Inc., for approximately $165 billion in stock, with the exact value to be determined by the stock prices of both firms. The new company would be called AOL Time Warner, with Steve Case serving as chairman. Time Warner's chairman Gerald Levin was to be the new company's CEO, Turner the vice–chairman. The merger would give AOL access to 20 million homes connected to Time Warner's cable lines and 300,000 cable modems already installed in Time Warner's Road Runner network. AOL would then be positioned to deliver its content through cable as well as telephone lines.

The merger took place in January 2001. That April, Turner criticized his boss Gerald Levin in a New Yorker magazine interview, saying, "I think he did a pretty marginal job of running [AOL Time Warner]." Turner's main complaint, however, was his relegation to a marginal role—vice–chairman—in the company. In May, AOL Time Warner announced that it was cutting 500 jobs at Turner Broadcasting System, including 400 at CNN. Reuters News Service reported on a Wall Street Journal story in October 2001 stating that Turner would likely not renew his employment contract with AOL Time Warner when it expired at the end of the year. He was expected, however, to maintain his place as a member of the AOL board.

In June, Turner, frustrated by the gradual loss of control over his media empire, announced that he was setting up his own production company to produce feature–length films and documentaries. Although the studio planned to work closely with AOL Time Warner, Inc., it also expected to develop projects on its own in cases in which AOL Time Warner was not interested.

Social and Economic Impact

Ted Turner has made an indelible mark on the world's television markets through his founding of several of the leading networks viewed on cable and satellite television. His revolutionary concepts like CNN's all–news format created wholly new and profitable genres of broadcasting that had not previously existed. He has also been a notable personage in international sporting and social causes through his participation in yachting competitions, his ownership of Atlanta–based professional sports teams, and his philanthropy and social activism.

Turner considered himself an ardent environmentalist, and in the year 1998 he gave funds to environmental organizations that totaled $25 million. The Turner Foundation included the Turner Endangered Species Fund, which focused on saving species such as the desert bighorn sheep and the California condor. Turner's environmental foundation funded 450 environmental advocacy groups in 1999. On ranch land that Turner owned in Montana, he planned to reintroduce wolves and falcons as well as native plant life. In addition, he hoped to demonstrate cultivation methods on the land that were environmentally sound. Turner was also concerned with other social issues such as world overpopulation and the impact of consumption on the earth's resources. In his personal life, Turner sought to decrease his own consumption by driving a mid–sized car, walking when possible, and saving on electricity in his home. Claimed Turner of his approach to life, work, and the causes that he supported, "I didn't set out to make a lot of money. . . . I went after the best ideas that would benefit the most people."

In 2001, after Turner's nine–year marriage to Jane Fonda had dissolved and his boss Gerald Levin had eased him out of his top role at AOL Time Warner, Turner reportedly compared himself to the biblical character Job, who went from great wealth to enduring incredible financial and personal hardships. Characteristically, Turner responded by announcing plans to donate money to the UN, fight for environmental causes, and bankroll hard–hitting documentaries.

In March of 2001, Turner responded to questions by students at his alma mater, the McCallie School. In commenting on his philanthropy, Turner said, "I never set out to become wealthy so I could become philanthropic. I set out to have an interesting life and to do well. But as I did better than well, I started thinking about the possibility of reinvesting my wealth in making a better world." When asked if the motivation for his charitable contributions was for personal glory or the greater good, Turner replied that he didn't know. "It's hard to tell. Who cares, as long as it gets done?" he explained. Former spouse Jane Fonda put a different spin on the picture, however: "For some reason, he has a guilty conscience. He went so much further than his father thought he would. So what's left? To be a good guy."