Ted, Transfigured

He needs no colorization ... -- Picture courtesy of Grand Central Publishing

by blogSpotter
70 year-old Ted Turner is a well-known media entrepreneur -- actually something of a living media legend. In earlier, feisty career phases, he was called “Mouth of the South”. As you will see, he saw the light and started speaking words of wisdom on the road to World Media Domination. Mr. Turner had a vantage point that only a multibillionaire could have, and he used it to everyone’s advantage. His book “Call Me Ted” illuminates this amazing butterfly transformation.

Ted was born to a successful Georgia car salesman & billboard magnate -- he wasn’t entirely “self-made”. His father Ed probably had a net worth of @ 1 million at the time of his death. Ted’s mother Florence was a quiet matron and barely receives mention in his book. Reading between the lines, Ted’s family wasn’t close. His parents dispatched him to boarding schools (McCallie) and military academies throughout his childhood. His one younger sister died from complications of Lupus when she was only 17. Ted’s personal tragedies were compounded when his parents divorced and then his chronically depressed father killed himself with a shotgun, later in mid-life. 24 year-old Ted was left holding the reigns of Turner Billboards. Ted had just been expelled from Brown (for having a girl in his room) and never finished a college degree. Many associates thought that the young “punk” was too small for the task of running his Dad‘s company but the manic Ted proved them very, very wrong.

It would take 70 pages to enumerate all of Ted’s business and life successes so I’ll just touch on the highlights:

o He expanded Turner Billboards into Turner radio advertising and then into Turner broadcasting
o He decided to expand the reach of his Atlanta Turner station beyond the South (considered a technical impossibility at that time) -- he defied the naysayers and created a satellite uplink company for Atlanta and harnessed the power of then-new cable signaling.
o Moved mountains as necessary -- sued RCA when they wouldn’t offer alternative satellite coverage (after a new satellite designated for CNN crashed). Sued the U.S. government when CNN was barred from being part of the White House Press Corp (won both lawsuits).
o Turner’s new Super Station concept rewrote the industry rules and forced changes in national TV ad rates as well as cable fee structure
Turner innovated 24-Hour news, all-movie channels and a cartoon network along with other new concepts
o In addition to his many business successes Turner was an avid sailor and won the America’s Cup for sailboat racing in 1977.
o Turner purchased the Atlanta Braves in 1976, initially as a ploy to attract viewers to his channels. In the process he became involved in the coaching and helped them to become Series winners (albeit many years later)

Turner ran into rough waters in the early 90’s and what some might call his undoing was really his “doing”. He wanted to vertically integrate Turner Broadcasting, which possibly entailed acquisitions of a movie studio, a broadcast network and/or other big venues. Turner didn’t have the resources and allowed a merger with Time-Warner to provide the needed capital. Turner quickly lost influence in the merged company -- CEO Jerry Levine gradually moved Turner out of all network decisions and basically into a non-acting role “down the hall“. Turner feels that he was vilified for predicting a dot-com meltdown and for seeing problems in the merger with a hugely over-valued AOL. Turner was right, and Levine was eventually given the boot (in essence) but Ted, Time Warner’s largest share holder at the time, was tired of the whole affair and sold his shares soon after. It’s estimated that Turner lost 7 billion dollars in the entire sequence of events -- leaving him a relative pauper with only a billion or so left.

Unlike many other wealthy moguls, Turner’s success gave him pause -- how much megalomania do I really need to demonstrate? Can I make a qualitative as well as a quantitative difference? Starting in 1986, Ted embarked on a series of philanthropic actions that have truly transformed the world:

o CNN hosted the Good Will games of 1986 (and later years) so that athletes who were shut out because of the 1980/1984 Olympic boycotts could compete. These games are thought to have advanced détente with the USSR.
o In the early 1990’s, Turner donated $1 billion to the United Nations, founding the United Nations Foundation. In addition to fighting disease, hunger and overpopulation, Ted’s donation shamed other mega wealthy people into giving more money.
o Ted purchased over 2 million acres of ranch land with the express purpose of restoring habitat and endangered species.

Ted married the beautiful and oft-controversial Jane Fonda in 1991. She was his third wife. In his book, he makes little mention of his mother or first two wives. Again, reading between the lines I can tell that Fonda was the late-September love of his life. Though they divorced in 2000, he discusses her at length, and still professes his love for her. She still lives near him in Atlanta and serves on a couple of his non-profit boards. The divorce was probably more due to incompatible lifestyles than any disrespect -- they both appear to still enjoy quite a bit of each other’s company. Turner said that he was raised in a conservative Republican household and never questioned those ideals growing up. As he became ensnared in the hustle-bustle of business he started to realize that supposed "conservative values" did not really suit him. He states that Jane Fonda was both brave and right in her anti-war stance. He admired her fortitude then and admires it now.

Turner’s most recent enterprise has been a chain of Steak Restaurants (let’s ignore the fact that they serve bison). His other efforts are largely philanthropic -- fighting pollution, global warming, overpopulation and disease. Turner has become solid friends with the progressive community (Al Gore, Tom Hanks et al). In the near completion of his political/intellectual metamorphosis, he embraces Democratic politicians and their causes. Ted has been to the mountain and back -- it is good to know that with all his capacities and experience, he’s settled into a lifestyle of giving, caring and loving our troubled world back to health.

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