Ted Turner dies at 87: What was the cause of death of the CNN founder and media mogul?
The “televisionary” was a pioneer of satellite TV and changed how people watched real-time news events unfold around the globe.
Robert Edward (Ted) Turner III, founder of a media empire that included CNN and Turner Broadcasting System has passed away. Turner Enterprises announced the news about the 87 year old in a press release, however, no cause of death was given.
Turner revealed he was diagnosed with a degenerative nerve disease, Lewy body dementia, in 2018, calling it “a mild case of what people have as Alzheimer’s” during an interview with CBS Sunday Morning. The thrice married and divorced billionaire and philanthropist is survived by five children, 14 grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.
How did Ted Turner make his fortune?
It is estimated that Turner was worth $2.8 billion, but his beginnings were quite modest, even if he wasn’t. The media mogul once said of himself: “If I only had a little humility, I’d be perfect.”
The entrepreneur got his start selling billboard space for his family’s billboard business in Savannah, Georgia at age 24. He eventually acquired it after his father died, selling it to pay off debts and then purchasing it back and making it profitable.
He took a risk buying a failing Atlanta television station for $2.5 million in 1970. It began to operate in the black with low-cost programing broadcast 24 hours a day.
He also made what is now called WTBS the first “superstation” using satellites to get its programming picked up by local cable systems across the nation. This pioneering move would set the stage for his creation CNN in 1980.
He eventually sold Turner Broadcasting System for $7.5 billion to Time Warner Inc in 1996, which created the world’s largest communications company. Then five years later Time Warner merged with online provider AOL in a $99 billion deal.
Despite being in favor of it, he lost control over his cable networks in the reorganization. He eventually left the company altogether in 2006.
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