Ted Turner, the former owner of the Atlanta Braves, Atlanta Hawks and World Championship Wrestling, has died at age 87. His company, Turner Enterprises, announced his death on Wednesday.
Turner shared in 2018 that he had been diagnosed with the progressive brain disorder Lewy Body Dementia, and in 2025, he was hospitalized with pneumonia.
The Braves released a statement regarding Turner’s death:
“Our good friend and former owner, Ted Turner, was one of a kind – a brilliant businessman, consummate showman and passionate fan of his beloved Braves. Ted’s visionary leadership and innovative approach to broadcast television transformed the Braves into ‘America’s Team.’ Under his stewardship, the ballclub experienced one of the greatest runs of sustained excellence in Major League Baseball history and brought a World Series championship to Atlanta in 1995.
“Ted was also a legendary philanthropist whose compassion and generosity extended across the globe.
“We will miss you, Ted. You helped make us who we are today, and the Atlanta Braves are forever grateful for the impact you made on our organization and in our community.”
An Ohio native who became a fixture of the Atlanta business scene, Turner was a media mogul and cable-television pioneer who founded CNN, the first 24-hour cable news station, and TBS, the first cable superstation, along with TNT.
Turner bought the Braves in 1976 for a reported $12 million, turning the team’s telecasts into signature programming for his fledgling WTBS cable network. Turner proved himself a promotional maverick as Braves owner, partly out of necessity. For the early years of his stewardship, the Braves were reliably among the worst teams in Major League Baseball, but their economic fortunes were buoyed by Turner’s relentless, creative promotional efforts. He even managed the team for one game in 1977 before the National League stepped in and halted his experiment — and their eventual nationwide presence on TBS broadcasts.
The Braves’ fortunes on the field ultimately improved, starting with his hiring of New York Yankees coach Bobby Cox as manager in 1978. Cox served two tenures as Braves manager under Turner, but it was his second term, starting in 1990, that saw Turner’s Braves become a dynasty. Thanks to an impressive homegrown talent base, supplemented in the years to come by trade and free-agent acquisitions executed by general manager John Schuerholz, whom Turner hired away from the Kansas City Royals in 1990, the Braves made the World Series in 1991 and fell in a legendary Game 7 to the Minnesota Twins.
That began an unprecedented run that saw the Braves win 14 straight division titles and become a national brand thanks in part to their almost nightly presence on TBS. Turner’s efforts with the Braves culminated in the 1995 World Series title. The next year, Turner sold the Braves to Time Warner as part of a massive merger for roughly $400 million.
Outside of baseball, Turner owned the NBA’s Hawks from 1977-82 with the franchise only winning a single playoff series during his tenure. He also founded WCW in 1988 after purchasing the assets of Jim Crockett Promotions. WCW became the chief rival of Vince McMahon’s World Wrestling Federation (WWF) with its signature “Monday Nitro” cable program beating McMahon’s “Monday Night Raw” in the TV ratings for 83 consecutive weeks. WWF (now WWE) ultimately regained its ground and eventually purchased WCW’s assets from AOL Time Warner in 2001.
Turner was also an accomplished yachtsman who won the America’s Cup race in 1977. Turner Field, where the Braves played from 1997 to 2016, was named for him after it was rebranded following the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. In 1991, Turner was named Time Magazine’s “Man of the Year” for his groundbreaking leadership in cable news.
Turner is survived by five children, 14 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
