Ted Turner was born in Cincinnati, Ohio on November 19, 1938. He attended McCallie School in Chattanooga, Tennessee. He attended to Brown University. He was expelled before graduation because he was caught with a female in his room. He took over his Fathers firm after his fathers suicide Turner Advertising and grew it into a world wide firm.

After Turner successfully rejuvenated his late father's advertising business in the 1960's, he turned his attention to television. His launch of the Cable News Network in 1980 was followed by a bold expansion of Turner's other media interests. CNN, ESPN, TBS, and TMC are just a few of Turner's cable enterprises. Turner has also pursued affiliations with American networks such as CBS and ABC, and he is the owner of a number of professional sports franchises in Atlanta.

Turner Broadcasting merged with Time Warner in 2001 and Turner became the largest stockholder of the new company. After the company was purchased by AOL the share price collapsed and Turner lost an estimated $7 billion