orig. Robert Edward Turner, III
born Nov. 19, 1938, Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.
U.S. broadcasting entrepreneur.
He took over his father's Atlanta-based advertising firm after the latter's 1963 suicide and restored it to profitability. In 1970 he bought the Atlanta television station WJRJ (later WTBS), which in 1975 became the superstation of the Turner Broadcasting System, broadcasting via satellite to cable systems nationwide. An avid sportsman, he purchased professional baseball and basketball franchises in Atlanta, and in 1977 he piloted his yacht, Courageous , to victory in the America's Cup race. He expanded his broadcasting empire with the 1980 launch of the Cable News Network ( CNN ) and the 1986 purchase of MGM/UA Entertainment ( MGM ) and its library of more than 4,000 movies. He married Jane Fonda in 1991 (divorced 2001). In 1996 he merged his broadcasting system with Time Warner and became its vice-chairman (see AOL Time Warner ). In 2003 he resigned as vice-chairman of AOL Time Warner.