Ted Turner Biography - Ted Turner and His Incredible Media Empire

Author: Ken Auletta (USA)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2007-01-01
Features: This is a series of brand-new business stories, telling the tales of pioneers from different eras: ambitious, adventurous, and unorthodox. What propelled them to success was not fleeting business concepts but an unstoppable commercial instinct. On the surface, Ted Turner seems far removed from the CEO we imagine, with his unfiltered bluntness and unrestrained aggressiveness. However, his courage and visionary acumen are no less remarkable. It was with such talent that Ted Turner was able to start from a seemingly insignificant company and eventually build it into a miraculous media empire in the cable TV industry. To secure a rich and stable supply of programming for his television stations, he sports teams and a film archive. He once risked the company's entire assets on two high-stakes, bold moves: First, he bet everything on creating the world's first 24-hour cable news channel, CNN; Second, he disregarded all costs to acquire MGM's film archive to launch a new cable programming channel. During this time, he even personally served as captain, leading the "Courage" to victory in the America's Cup, and his many absurd and exaggerated actions as the "Captain of Courage" became headlines across major media outlets. In the 1990s, the empire under his rule expanded rapidly, and he even harbored ambitions to use this as leverage to acquire CBS. Later, Time Warner acquired Turner Broadcasting Company but excluded Ted Turner himself, as his pirate-like adventurous spirit clashed with the disciplined and formal culture of a massive corporation. Everyone celebrated the merger; however, in the end, it turned out to be a disaster for Ted Turner: not only was he stripped of real power in the company's management, but even his once-prized great achievements fell into turmoil and mutual accusations. Now, Turner is a lion in a cage, his heroic days behind him, but he and his "24/7 live coverage" CNN will remain as legends in the annals of media history.