BREAKING: CNN Founder Ted Turner Dies
Ted Turner, the founder of CNN, has died.
The billionaire media mogul was 87.
In a statement on Turner’s death, CNN CEO Mark Thompson said, “Ted was an intensely involved and committed leader, intrepid, fearless, and always willing to back a hunch and trust his own judgment.”
CNN broke the news of Turner’s death:
Ted Turner, the media maverick and philanthropist who founded CNN, a pioneering 24-hour network that revolutionized television news, died peacefully Wednesday, surrounded by his family, according to a news release from Turner Enterprises. He was 87.
The Ohio-born Atlanta businessman, nicknamed “The Mouth of the South” for his outspoken nature, built a media empire that encompassed cable’s first superstation and popular channels for movies and cartoons, plus professional sports teams like the Atlanta Braves.
Turner was also an internationally known yachtsman; a philanthropist who founded the United Nations Foundation; an activist who sought the worldwide elimination of nuclear weapons; and a conservationist who became one of the foremost landowners in the United States. He played a crucial role in reintroducing bison to the American west. He even created the Captain Planet cartoon to educate kids about the environment.
But it was his audacious vision to deliver news from around the world in real time, at all hours, that really made him famous – once his idea finally took off.
In 1991, Turner was named Time magazine’s Man of the Year for “influencing the dynamic of events and turning viewers in 150 countries into instant witnesses of history.”
Turner eventually sold his networks to Time Warner and later exited the business, but continued to express pride in CNN, calling it the “greatest achievement” of his life.
The tributes came pouring in on X:
Ted Turner, the billionaire media entrepreneur and philanthropist who launched the 24-hour cable TV news revolution when he founded CNN in 1980, has died. He was 87. https://t.co/CboJPpPBiC pic.twitter.com/DOKk9QM120
— CNN (@CNN) May 6, 2026
Between Braves baseball and WCW, Ted Turner had a big effect on a lot of kids in the 80s and 90s. https://t.co/CAO5ZhbH6d
— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) May 6, 2026
Realtor reported Turner was once one of the largest landowners in the United States:
However, in his later years, Turner, who was previously married to actress Jane Fonda, turned his focus to another great passion: ranches, buying up a reported 14 ranch properties across the U.S., including a staggering 113,000-acre spread in Montana, where he is understood to have spent many of the years leading up to his death.
In 2012, Turner spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about his passion for environmentalism, telling the outlet that he had amassed a staggering portfolio of 28 properties, 14 of which were ranches with 55,000 bison between them.
Once upon a time, Turner was considered America’s largest private landowner, with close to two million acres of land across his properties—although he was later exceeded by his fellow media mogul John Malone, the chairman of Liberty Media, who amassed around 2.2 million acres as of 2011.
At the time of his death, Turner had an estimated net worth of around $2.6 billion—a large portion of which had been invested into properties across the U.S., which included his beloved ranch in Bozeman, MT, where he is understood to have been based for many of his final years.