Ted Turner, the media mogul and founder of CNN, dies

Ted Turner, the media mogul and founder of CNN, passed away this Wednesday at the age of 87, as reported by the US news channel itself. The American entrepreneur revolutionized the global information landscape with the launch of what was the first 24-hour news channel in 1980. Over the years, Turner built a vast media empire that includes channels such as TBS, TCM, and TNT, and turned CNN into an international news reference. The cause of death has not been made public, but in 2018 Turner explained that he suffered from Lewy body dementia, a neurodegenerative disease.

Turner's media empire began thanks to his father's billboard advertising business, which he inherited in 1963 after his father committed suicide. In the late 1960s, he bought several radio stations in the southern United States, which he later sold to acquire the first television channel of his nascent media business.

Turner became one of the most powerful figures in the United States in the media and entertainment sector thanks to television channels specializing in news, sports, reruns, and old movies. He also entered the film industry through the purchase of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/United Artists studio. In 1996, he merged Turner Broadcasting System with Time Warner and assumed the position of vice chairman and head of the conglomerate. After a few turbulent years, he resigned as vice chairman of the company in 2003.

Turner was an energetic staunch supporter of fellow media mogul Rupert Murdoch. The confrontation between the two began in 1983 when a yacht sponsored by Murdoch collided with a Turner boat during a regatta in Australia. The bad blood between them intensified when in 1996 Murdoch launched Fox News, a conservative channel that aimed to rival CNN. Turner called the Australian businessman a warmonger and compared him to Adolf Hitler.

Beyond his media empire, Turner will also be remembered for his environmental activism, as well as for being one of the largest landowners in the United States and a prominent philanthropist who donated one billion dollars to the United Nations. In 2017, when he made the last donation to the organization, he stated that it was "the best investment" he had ever made.

Turner was married three times and had three children. His third and final marriage was to actress Jane Fonda, with whom he was from 1991 to 2001.