Ted Turner, Media Mogul Who Founded CNN, Dies At 87
on May 06, 2026
The Billionaire Is Remembered For His Transformative Approach To News Broadcasting
“If Alexander the Great could conquer the known world, why couldn’t I start CNN?” said Ted Turner, according to NPR.
On Wednesday, May 6, the billionaire and media mogul Ted Turner died at the age of 87.
While he had been out of the limelight for several years, announcing in 2018 that he was diagnosed with Lewy Body Dementia, Ted was a defining figure in the media landscape of the 20th century — not just for America, but globally.
Following his father’s suicide in 1963, Ted took over his father’s business, Turner Advertising, as president and CEO. By 1965, Ted changed the company’s name to Turner Communications Group, and the company would see the pivotal use of satellites for broadcast begin in late 1976.
By 1979, he changed the company’s name to Turner Broadcasting System, which is what it was known as prior to being merged for $7.34 billion with Time Warner in 1996.
One of Ted’s crowning achievements was CNN, which had its first broadcast on June 1, 1980, becoming the first television station to cover news 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The network competed directly with the three major networks of the day (ABC, NBC, and CBS) which relegated news to morning and evening broadcasts.
Remembering Ted, President Donald Trump, who has had a rocky relationship with CNN over the years, wrote on Truth Social, “Ted Turner, one of the Greats of All Time, just died. He founded CNN, sold it, and was personally devastated by the Deal because the new ownership took CNN, his ‘baby,’ and destroyed it.”
Trump added, “It became woke, and everything that he is not all about. Maybe the new buyers, wonderful people, will be able to bring it back to its former credibility and glory.”
See Trump’s full post, here:
In addition to CNN, Turner established television stations like Cartoon Network and Turner Classic Movies, which specialized in specific programming.
Turner Classic Movies was one of Ted’s “greatest accomplishments,” the channel noted in a post on X, formerly Twitter:
We say goodbye to our founder, the visionary Ted Turner. Ted’s love of classic films inspired him to create a channel dedicated to preserving them. He considered TCM one of his greatest accomplishments.
— TCM (@tcm) May 6, 2026
His passion continues to inspire us all as we work to fulfill his mission. pic.twitter.com/bJSMUnBuQi
In 1976, Ted bought the Atlanta Braves baseball team, which he owned through 1996 with the team winning the 1995 World Series.
He also co-founded the Ted’s Montana Grill chain of restaurants.
Ted was married three times, with his final marriage being to Hollywood actress Jane Fonda, lasting from 1991 to 2001 before they divorced.
See the very first hour of CNN, broadcast on June 1, 1980, here:
Watch Ted Turner’s cameo as a Confederate soldier in the film Gettysburg (1993), which he produced, here:
