ATLANTA, GA — Ted Turner, a media pioneer and founder of the Atlanta-based CNN and Turner Broadcasting, has died at age 87, his company announced Wednesday.
Robert Edward Turner III, Turner Enterprises said the environmentalist and philanthropist peacefully died with family surrounding him after battling Lewy body dementia, a progressive brain disease.
"The family has requested privacy during this time as they grieve the death of their beloved patriarch," Turner Enterprises wrote.
CNN reported Turner was hospitalized after suffering mild pneumonia in 2025. He later recovered at a rehab facility, the news outlet reported.
In a post published to his site, Truth Social, President Donald Trump said Turner was "one of the greats of broadcast history and a friend of mine." He called Turner "one of the greats of all time."
"Whenever I needed him, he was there, always willing to fight for a good cause," Trump said.
Aside from cementing himself as a media mogul, Turner tapped into other ventures by formerly owning three Atlanta sports teams and establishing Ted's Montana Grill (which operates 12 restaurants in Georgia).
Most notably, however, he ultimately transformed his late father's advertising company into Turner Broadcasting System and founded CNN. Established in 1980, then-Cable News Network became "the world’s first live, 24-hour global news network," Turner Enterprises stated.
"By doing so, Turner forever changed news, setting the bar for the way news is both delivered by media and received by viewers across the world," the company stated.
Turner was promised a continued role in CNN after his company’s sale to Time Warner for $7.3 billion in stock, but was gradually pushed out, much to his regret.
“I made a mistake,” he later said. “The mistake I made was losing control of the company.”
Mark Thompson, chairman and CEO of CNN Worldwide, on released a statement following Turner's passing.
“Ted was an intensely involved and committed leader, intrepid, fearless and always willing to back a hunch and trust his own judgement," Thompson said in the statement shared in a CNN report. “He was and always will be the presiding spirit of CNN. Ted is the giant on whose shoulders we stand, and we will all take a moment today to recognize him and his impact on our lives and the world.”
Born Robert Edward Turner III, he spent his earlier years in his hometown of Cincinnati before relocating to Savannah at age 9.
He later moved to Atlanta to work for his father's advertising company before taking the helm after his father's passing. The firm was founded as Turner's Advertising Company but has since become Turner Broadcasting System.
In 1970, Turner bought an independent UHF station with a weak signal that did not even cover Atlanta.
On Dec. 17, 1976, he began transmitting the station to cable systems around the country via satellite. It became the TBS SuperStation.
“It was the start of something bigger than we ever imagined,” Turner said in 1996, per the Associated Press.
TBS operated as WTCG, which obtained the rights to air Atlanta Braves games and also transmitted local network, Channel 17.
He spent the next 20 years strengthening his TV footprint with CNN Headline News (HLN), CNN International, Turner Network Television (TNT), Cartoon Network and Turner Classic Movies (TCM).
Turner Broadcasting merged with Time Warner in 1996 before resigning in 2003 and leaving the board in 2005. Warner Bros. Discovery now owns Turner Broadcasting's former networks and assets.
Turner's devotion to older movies earned Turner a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2004.
TBS’ motley collection of old movies and “The Andy Griffith Show” reruns was augmented by Turner’s acquisition of baseball’s Atlanta Braves.
Building a sports empire, he previously owned the Atlanta Hawks. His son Beau and son-in-law Rutherford Seydel took over part ownership of the Hawks from 2004-15.
He also owned the Atlanta Thrashers before the team was moved to Winnipeg, Canada in 2011, USA Today reported.
Turner was best remembered at the helm of the Braves, however.
Perennial doormats, the Braves slowly attracted fans across the nation through their superstation exposure and in the 1980s began declaring themselves “America’s Team.”
Turner, who early on donned a uniform and managed one game, helped open baseball’s free-agent price wars by signing pitcher Andy Messersmith.
The Braves' stadium, built for the 1996 Olympics, was named Ted Turner Field. The Braves played 21 seasons at the field and replaced it in 2016 with a newer stadium, Truist Park in Cobb County.
A street in downtown Atlanta bears the name, Ted Turner Drive, near where the Turner building sits at Luckie Street.
The building is home to Turner Enterprises, Captain Planet Foundation, Turner Foundation, Ted Turner Reserves, Ted’s Montana Grill’s corporate offices and a Ted’s Montana Grill restaurant.
At the time of his death, Turner co-chaired Turner Enterprises, which also has an office in Bozeman, Montana.
Turner's companies gave more than $1 billion to philanthropic efforts that benefitted endangered species and land preservation.
His environmental series, "Captain Planet and the Planeteers," led to the establishment of the Captain Planet Foundation.
Turner also pledged $1 billion to the United Nations in 1991 and created the United Nations Foundation. The organization was built to address issues women and children face, as well as the issues of energy, climate and disease.
Through the years, Turner’s antics occasionally overshadowed his business activities.
Fresh from skippering his boat “Courageous” to the America’s Cup title in 1977, a very inebriated Turner was captured by TV cameras stretched out on the floor at the victory celebration.
Turner managed to insult many with his shoot-from-the-lip style. An atheist since his only sister died of lupus at age 17, he called Christians “losers” and “Jesus-freaks,” later apologizing for both remarks.
He once suggested in a speech that unemployed Black people be used to haul mobile missiles with ropes “like the Egyptians building the pyramids.” After civil rights leaders demanded an apology, he said he was just joking.
Other times, his humor saved him from potentially awkward situations, like when he talked to an audience in Berlin in 1999.
“You know, you Germans had a bad century,” Turner said, according to The New Yorker. “You were on the wrong side of two wars. You were the losers. I know what that’s like. When I bought the Atlanta Braves, we couldn’t win, either. You guys can turn it around. You can start making the right choices. If the Atlanta Braves could do it, then Germany can do it.”
Turner married three times, including to two-time Oscar-winning actress Jane Fonda.
He is survived by his five children, 14 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, his company said.
The family has planned a private service with intentions to hold a public memorial at a later date.
The Associated Press contributed reporting and writing.
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