Revision History

Ted Turner, the brash media mogul who founded CNN and built a cable television empire, died on May 6, 2026, at age 87 from complications of Lewy body dementia. His legacy spans the invention of 24-hour television news, an $8 billion financial catastrophe tied to the AOL-Time Warner merger, a $1 billion gift to the United Nations, and a conservation footprint covering nearly 2 million acres — all while the network he created now struggles with historically low ratings under Warner Bros. Discovery.