CNN founder Ted Turner dies

Ted Turner, a brash and outspoken television pioneer who raced yachts, owned huge chunks of the American West and transformed the news business by launching CNN in 1980, has died at age 87.

CNN reported he died on Wednesday, citing a Turner Enterprises news release.

Turner owned professional sports teams in Atlanta, defended the America’s Cup in yachting in 1977 and donated a stunning $1 billion to United Nations charities. He married three women — most famously actress Jane Fonda — and earned the nicknames “Captain Outrageous” and “The Mouth of the South.” He once bragged: “If only I had a little humility, I’d be perfect.” He was slowed in later years by Lewy Body Dementia. Long since out of the TV business, he concentrated on philanthropy and his over two million acres of property, including the nation’s largest bison herd.

His garrulous personality sometimes overshadowed a driven, risk-taking business acumen. By the time he sold his Turner Broadcasting System to Time Warner Inc. in a 1996 media megadeal, Turner had turned his late father’s billboard company into a global conglomerate that included seven major cable networks, three professional sports teams and a pair of hit movie studios.

—AP