Ted Turner, CNN founder and American media pioneer, dies at 87

Thursday 07 May 2026 - 10:57

By: Dakir Madiha

Ted Turner, CNN founder and American media pioneer, dies at 87

Ted Turner, the iconoclast who founded CNN and permanently altered the landscape of American television, died Wednesday at the age of 87 at his home near Tallahassee, Florida. Turner Enterprises confirmed his death. He had been living with Lewy body dementia since 2018 and was hospitalized for pneumonia in January 2025 before recovering at a rehabilitation center.

Born Robert Edward Turner III on November 19, 1938, in Cincinnati, Ohio, Turner took control of his father's billboard advertising company in 1963 following his father's death. He transformed that modest inheritance into one of the most expansive media empires in American history. In 1970 he acquired a UHF television station in Atlanta that would become the foundation of the Turner Broadcasting System, building from a single struggling local outlet into a cable television powerhouse that would reshape the industry.

Turner's most consequential gamble was the launch of CNN on June 1, 1980, the world's first round-the-clock news channel. Industry observers greeted the venture with skepticism, but Turner pressed forward with characteristic defiance, declaring at the network's launch that CNN would stay on the air until the end of the world. The network went on to redefine how global audiences consume news, earning its place in media history through live coverage of landmark events including the Gulf War and the fall of the Berlin Wall. Beyond CNN, Turner assembled a cable portfolio that included TBS, TNT, Cartoon Network, and Turner Classic Movies. He owned the Atlanta Braves baseball team and the Atlanta Hawks basketball franchise. In 1996, he merged Turner Broadcasting with Time Warner in a transaction valued at 7.5 billion dollars.

Turner's ambitions extended well beyond commerce. In September 1997, he stunned an audience at a United Nations Association gala by pledging one billion dollars to the UN, a donation that gave rise to the United Nations Foundation. He became one of the largest private landowners in North America, accumulating approximately two million acres devoted to conservation and the restoration of native wildlife, particularly bison. CNN president and chief executive Mark Thompson described Turner as the guiding spirit of CNN and a giant on whose shoulders the network stands. Turner is survived by five children. He was married three times, including to actress Jane Fonda from 1991 to 2001.