No cause of death disclosed for media mogul who revolutionised news broadcasting.
Published On 6 May 2026
Ted Turner, the brash sportsman and entrepreneur whose ambition and instincts led to a media empire that included the groundbreaking news network CNN, has died, CNN reports, citing a press release from Turner Enterprises. He was 87.
No cause of his death on Wednesday was given.
In September 2018, Turner revealed that he had Lewy body dementia, a degenerative nerve disease.
He became a billionaire by taking over his father’s billboard business, buying a television station in the 1970s and parlaying that into what would become a vast, groundbreaking television group.
Turner became one of the most powerful figures in US media and entertainment, his networks specialising in news, sports, reruns and old movies. But he did not stop there. He added the MGM/UA movie studio to his portfolio before making an even bigger move – merging his Turner Broadcasting System with Time Warner in 1996.
Turner headed the new company’s cable networks division and was its leading shareholder, but he had trouble fitting into a corporate system after decades of freewheeling as his own boss. He eventually lost control of his networks.
He made a name for himself with spectacular business deals, his ownership of professional sports clubs, his marriage to actor Jane Fonda, his leadership of a competitive yachting team and his devotion to charitable and environmental causes.
Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in November 1938, Robert Edward “Ted” Turner III went to a military boarding school in Tennessee and then attended Brown University but was expelled before graduating.
Turner took over a faltering family advertising business after his father, despondent over financial problems, committed suicide.
First 24-hour cable news network
After buying a number of radio stations, Turner’s purchase of a struggling Atlanta station in 1970 was his first move into television.
Ten years later, that became the flagship of his nationwide Turner Broadcasting System, the profits from which he used to launch CNN.
CNN went on the air in 1980 as the first 24-hour cable news network, gaining traction in the United States and later internationally.
The launch came as viewers were shifting from broadcast TV to cable, and CNN became a key source of news during the 1990-1991 Gulf War, delivering extensive live coverage using satellite technology.
CNN’s success inspired the creation of other 24-hour news channels, including Fox News by longtime Turner rival Rupert Murdoch, MSNBC and many more stations worldwide.
Turner’s television empire expanded beyond CNN to include TBS and TNT for sports and entertainment, Turner Classic Movies and the Cartoon Network, among others.
Turner sold back the Hollywood group MGM/UA five months after buying it while keeping the rights to large portions of its catalogue, including films from MGM.