Ted Turner
Ted Turner is one of the wealthiest individuals in earth, a media mogul, and a UN philanthropist from the United States. Born Edward Robert “Ted” Turner III on 19 November 1938 in Cincinnati, Ohio, Ted Turner has lived to be an influential person who has transformed the telecommunications industry all over the world (Auletta, 2004). Ted Turner’s family moved to Savannah, Georgia when he was aged nine years. He began his schooling at Georgia Military academy and, he proceeded to McCallie Boys Preparatory School in Tennessee for his high school (Auletta, 2004). Ted Turner began his University education at Brown University an economics major but never made it to graduation due to expulsion for violating dormitory room rules and regulations. Apparently, let a female student spent the entire night in his dormitory room despite women students forbidden from spending nights in boy’s dormitory rooms. Nonetheless, he was an active member in co-curricular activities during his schooling. For instance, he captained the sailing team and as well, held the vice president’s position as the Debating Union in Brown University (Auletta, 2004). Interestingly, Brown University later awarded Ted Turner with an Honorary in November 1989.
Hardships
Ted’s life has been marred by several incidences of hardships and suffering, majority of which have contributed into shaping him to whom he is today through high standards. His father, Edward Robert Turner II, was an alcoholic father frequently subject Ted to beatings (Brady, and Ferran, 2008). The severe beatings left turner emotionally abused. In his autobiography, Call Me Ted, Ted Turner narrates how his tough father contributed in making him a better person (Turner, and Burke, 2008). At one point, Ted Turner states that in order to make it in life, one can either break down or break out. Many a times, winners break out while losers break down. As it turns out, success for Ted Turner is surrounded by different tragedies. After managing to sustain severe physical and mental abuse coupled with periods of highs and lows, Ted Turner still managed to transform his obstacles into success.
First, Ted Turner’s father committed suicide when Ted was aged 24 thereby leaving Ted with more pain and hardships. Secondly, Mary Jean, her sister, succumb to her death due to suffering from a painful disease (terminal lupus) for five years. Ted Turner even went to an extent of blaming God for allowing innocent individuals to suffer in painful situations (Bill, 2001). Due to his inability to reconcile with the death of his sister, Ted Turner abandoned his Christian faith, partly due to the reason that God allowed her sister to succumb to her death. Third, despite the successes associated with his business world, Ted Turner has really struggled with his private life because much time was dedicated into the growth of the business as compared to the time allocated to the family. Although Ted Turner did the best he could, Ted has had three failed marriages even though he managed to have five children later.
Finally yet important, Turner has had to undergo different sets of suffering other than his private life. Growing his business empire has cost him billions of dollars in losses. A clear example can be evidenced from the disastrous merger between American Online (AOL) and Time Warner whereby Ted Turner lost nearly $7 Billion. Ted has also faced a myriad of other economic challenges during his quest of building his business empire. Other than financial and family hardships, Ted has also had to survive various criticisms and accusations that have been thrown to his line of operations and strategic business moves and ventures. Above all, he has managed to build a better personal out of hardships and as well, creating a living legacy.
World leader in communications
Ted Turner is multimedia mogul with a communications empire consisting of two movie studios and seven cable networks. Ted Turner’s career begun when he was only aged nine, thanks to his aggressive father influence. Interestingly, his job entailed mowing lawns and maintaining poles for billboards belonging to his father’s company-Turner Advertising. Soon, he was promoted to the position of an accounts executive, and by 1960, he had become the general manager at his father’s advertising company. The death of his father three years later marked the beginning his communication business. Through his risk taking attributes, he purchased ailing US companies and transformed them into modernized, lean, and profitable ventures. Turner’s first station Turner Broadcasting System (or WTBS) was one of the first cable televisions in America and formed the foundations that enabled turner to create other innovative and successful cable television networks such as Turner Network Television (TNT) and Cable News Network (CNN). Other leading television networks under the Turner Brand include Cartoon Network (CN), Turner Classic Movies (TCM), CNN International, New Line Cinema, Castle Rock Entertainment, and other properties under Time Warner Inc. (Auletta, 2004).
As a world leader in communications, Ted Turner has managed to win recognitions from all over the industry based on his entrepreneurial acumen, visionary and leadership skills, exceptional business skills, and above all, unprecedented philanthropic activities. Other than being the owner of companies in his communications portfolio, Ted Turner holds different leadership positions throughout the industry. He chairs the Turner Foundation Inc. that is concerned with the creation of environmental sustainability in improving air quality, maintaining ecological habitats, and safeguarding health standards within the environment. Equally, he heads other influential positions such as the Turner Endangered Species Fund, Captain Planet Foundation, and Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) (Auletta, 2004).
Speaking of the movie and film production, Turner owned two independent companies dealing with film production; Ted Turner Documentaries and Ted Turner Pictures that enabled him to acquire rights to televise classic movies without necessarily having to pay for royalties. Out of the telecommunications industry, Ted Turner is an influential entrepreneur and chairs Turner Enterprises, Inc. that is responsible for managing his business interests and investments. Ted Montana Grill (TMG) chains of restaurants are also other investments of Ted Turner. Notably, Ted Turner is one of the leading owners of private land in the United States with acreage of approximately 2 million acres. Ted Turner is also a distinguished sportsman who has utilized his influence in the communication industry to efforts aimed at marketing sports initiatives. Ted Turner developed interests in Atlanta Braves baseball team and as well, obtained controlling stakes in the Atlanta Basketball team. Purchasing sports teams was a strategic move to provide a games element to his broadcast line-up. His stations could air live sports such as basketball and baseball and as well, professional wrestling thereby enabling the stations to win more audiences and publicity. In his capacity as sportsman, Ted Turner is an accomplished sailor who has emerged triumphant in many sailing competitions such as the American Cup Competition.
Undeniably, Ted Turner has made a legacy and an indelible mark in the communication industry all over the world of communications and television markets. His revolutionary and transformative concepts have enabled him to generate millions of profit from profitable ventures. As such, his influence, achievements, and contributions will make him to remain a world leader in the world of communications.
Visionary and Iconic Leader
In Ted Turner is a visionary and iconic leader who has survived all odds to develop a business empire in telecommunications, particularly in the cable news television. Through vision, commitment, and determination, Ted Turner managed to survive adversity by using it as a springboard to get where he is today. Making use of every available opportunity in the industry requires vision, resiliency, and determination and that is what Ted Turner was determined to achieve.
Philanthropist and Selfless Environmentalist
Other than supporting and building himself, Ted Turner has been largely involved in supporting various foundations that promote human and environmental sustainability. His philanthropic attribute is seen from his $1 Billion pledge to the United Nations (Turner, 2011). Other foundations supported by Ted Turner include Turner Endangered Species Fund, Captain Planet Foundation, and Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI). He was also influential in supporting Goodwill Games during the period 1986-1992 that were aimed at the promotion of peace. Instead of concentrating in becoming a billionaire, Ted Turner has acted selflessly and committed a large of his wealth in the improvement and creation of a sustainable future.
Innovative and creative
Majority of his business ideas have been transformative and creative, and most of his ideas were aimed at the improvement of the society. No one ever though undertaking a 24-hour business venture was a viable initiative and such creative ideas from Ted Turner made the horizon something realizable (Turner, 2011).. With a combination of hard work and aptitude, Ted Turner managed to transform creative ideas into real business ventures.
References
Auletta, K. (2004). Media Man: Ted Turner's Improbable Empire. W. W. Norton, 2004
Bill, B. (2001). Why do Bad Things Happen? Glad You Asked. Brian Bill Sermons
Brady, J., and Ferran, L. (2008). Turner: Tough Father “Made Me a Better Man.” Retrieved on
29 November from http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=6222003#.TtQezyT1Gdk
Turner, T. (2011). Ted Turner Biography: Charismatic Visionary: Maverick Tycoon. Retrieved
on 29 November 2011 from http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/tur0bio-1
Turner, T. and Burke, B. (2008). Call Me Ted. Grand Central Publishing
