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Ted Turner Was Elon Musk Before Elon Musk Was Elon Musk
By
Norm Singleton
May 21, 2026
AP
AP
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No one thought that the owner of a small Atlanta-based billboard company’s purchase of a small UHF television station would change history. But that billboard owner, Robert Edward “Ted” Turner, transformed that small station into the foundation of a media empire. Turner himself became, in the words of Eric Bischoff, who ran Turner’s World Championship Wrestling (WCW), “the Elon Musk of his time.” Turner, who recently passed away at the age of 87, had a career that provided several lessons for would-be entrepreneurs, as well as one important lesson for policy makers.
Turner saw the potential of the (then) new technology of cable. Turner used cable to take his UHF station, which he rechristened Turner Broadcasting System (TBS), national, making it the first superstation. Turner once claimed his success was due to professional baseball, professional wrestling, and Andy Griffith reruns. In 1976, Turner put his money where his mouth was and purchased the Atlanta Braves in order to keep the team in Atlanta and their games on TBS. Turner later purchased the Atlanta Hawks basketball team, the MGM film library—which formed the basis of his cable stations Turner Network Television (TNT) and Turner Classic Movies (TCM)—the Hanna-Barbara Studios (producer of Scooby-Doo, The Flintstones and other popular cartoons for his Cartoon Network), movie studios Castle Rock and NewLine Cinemas, and, of course, Jim Crockett Wrestling promotions which became WCW. Turner’s acquisitions allowed him to build a vertically integrated media powerhouse. Turner’s film libraries, studios, and sports franchises provided his cable stations with a reliable source of content without having to pay high licensing fees to a third party. Instead, the profits were spilt between two parts of the Turner empire.
Turner is best known as the creator of Cable News Network (CNN), the first 24-7 news network. Turner got the idea for CNN from the fact that he was never home to watch the evening news. Turner realized he was not the only person to work past seven and thus miss the six o’clock news. So, Turner created the first 24-hour news channel to allow people to watch the news on their own schedules.
Of course, not every decision Turner made turned out well for him or his company. The biggest mistake of his career was merging his company with Time-Warner in 1996, followed by the Time-Warner merger with America Online (AOL) in 2001. At the time of the Time-Warner-AOL merger, most experts thought the combination of a traditional media giant with what was then one of the leading internet providers would create a company with an unchallengeable monopoly over both traditional and new media. Instead, Time-Warner-AOL fell apart and today is remembered as one of the greatest disasters in modern business history.
One of the blunders that contributed to the wreck of the Time-Warner-AOL merger was stripping Ted Turner of any real say in the management of the media empire he created. The Time-Warner-AOL fiasco is a lesson for policy makers, showing that a company that appears to have unchallengeable dominance can lose market share and fail because of poor management, complacency, or competition from a new firm that better serves consumers. Ironically, actress and political activist Jane Fonda, who is the last of four women Ted Turner married and divorced, has spoken out against Warner Brothers’ merger with Paramount.
Following his departure from Time-Warner-AOL, Turner, who was at an age when most business people are getting ready to retire, entered the restaurant business. An avid conservationist, Turner was so committed to bison preservation that he owned 45,000 bison spread around 14 ranches. Turner’s passion for bison preservation motivated him to team up with restauranteur George McKerrow to create Ted’s Montana Grill. Turner wanted the restaurant to increase interest in bison meat, so bison burgers and steaks were a major feature of the menu. Ted’s Montana Grill is an example of doing well by doing good and monetizing your passions.
Among the lessons wannabe entrepreneurs can learn from Turner is the importance of respecting and staying loyal to the consumers responsible for your initial success. Turner's loyalty to baseball and pro-wrestling fans was a big part of his success. Another lesson is to pay attention whenever...