Ted Turner
Atlanta, Georgia
Bachelor of Arts/Science, Brown University
United States
7
cable television, Self Made
$2,200,000,000
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5
#1057 Billionaires 2019
#368 Forbes 400 2018
Media-mogul-turned-land-baron Ted Turner grew his father's advertising firm into Turner Broadcasting and founded the Cable News Network (CNN) in 1980.He sold Turner to Time Warner for $7.3 billion in stock in 1996 and, after Time Warner bought AOL in 2001, saw his fortune tumble as shares dropped.Turner is America's second-largest individual landowner, with roughly 2 million acres; he also owns 51,000 bison and ranches in Argentina.Turner recently announced that he has been diagnosed with Lewy Body Disease, a common cause of dementia. Turner, a Giving Pledge signee, chairs the Turner Foundation Inc, which is dedicated to protecting and restoring America's natural environments.
An avid sailor, he won the America's Cup in 1977 using the yacht Courageous. Forty years later NBC Sports released a 45-minute documentary about the achievement. Turner was suspended and later expelled from Brown after officials found out his girlfriend was living in his dorm room. He got an honorary doctorate in 1993.
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