Ted Turner
Entrepreneur, Organization founder
1938 –
Who is Ted Turner?
Robert Edward "Ted" Turner III is an American media mogul. As a businessman, he is known as founder of the cable news network CNN, the first 24-hour cable news channel. In addition, he founded WTBS, which pioneered the superstation concept in cable television. As a philanthropist, he is known for his $1 billion gift to support the United Nations, which created the United Nations Foundation, a public charity to broaden support for the UN. Turner serves as Chairman of the United Nations Foundation board of directors.
Turner's media empire began with his father's billboard business, which he took over at 24 after his father's suicide. The business, Turner Outdoor Advertising, was worth $1 million when Turner took it over in 1963. Purchase of an Atlanta UHF station in 1970 began the Turner Broadcasting System. Cable News Network revolutionized news media, covering the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986 and the Persian Gulf War in 1991. Turner turned the Atlanta Braves baseball team into a nationally popular franchise and launched the charitable Goodwill Games. He helped reinvent interest in professional wrestling when he owned one of the most popular wrestling companies of the middle to late 1990s known as World Championship Wrestling. The Monday night show that it put on was the highest rated on cable and helped boost Turner's channels of TNT and WTBS.
We need you!
Help us build the largest biographies collection on the web!
- Born
- Nov 19, 1938
Cincinnati - Also known as
- Robert Edward Turner
- Robert Edward Turner III
- Robert Edward "Ted" Turner III
- R.E. Turner
- The Mouth of the South
- Captain Outrageous
- Parents
- Spouses
- Jane Shirley Smith
(1965/06/02 - 1988) - Jane Fonda
(1991/12/21 - 2001/05/22) - Julia Gale Nye
(1960/06/23 - 1964)
- Jane Shirley Smith
- Children
- Religion
- Agnosticism
- Nationality
- United States of America
- Profession
- Education
- Brown University
- The McCallie School
- Employment
- Founder, Turner Broadcasting System
- World Championship Wrestling
- Lived in
- Cincinnati
- Montana
- Savannah
- Atlanta
Submitted
on July 23, 2013
Citation
Use the citation below to add to a bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Ted Turner." Biographies.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 23 Apr. 2024. <https://www.biographies.net/people/en/ted_turner>.
Discuss this Ted Turner biography with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In