Billionaire mogul and philanthropist Ted Turner has signed a new contract with AOL Time Warner, ending a full-scale media feud. The so-called “mouth of the South”, famously written out of the hierarchy at the company he helped build, seems to be back in the fold following the surprise deal.
“I am very pleased to extend my contract as vice chairman of AOL Time Warner and am enthusiastic about working with Steve Case, Dick Parsons, Bob Pittman and the rest of the management team,” he told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. His contract was to expire next month, however, the 63-year-old entrepreneur will remain on staff.
Ted sold his Turner Broadcasting to Time Warner in 1995 – a mistake, he admits – and was unceremoniously shoved aside when the giant merged with AOL in early 2000. At the time, newly-installed CEO Gerald Levin insisted Turner would be a “transcendent figure” on a “much larger canvas”. However, Turner was soon dropped from meetings of the top brass, even at CNN, the maverick news network he launched in 1980.
“I’m in spiritual and mental pain,” he said in a speech at Harvard University in April 2001, addressing his split from his interests at AOL Time Warner and the troubles that followed. “When you’ve worked to build a company for 40 years and you know all the people there, and one day it’s gone, well, that’s a hard transition for anyone. It’s like taking your pencil away and telling you you can’t write anymore.”
Levin announced early this month that he was retiring, a move which immediately spawned talk of a Turner return. The new deal does not specify the tycoon’s responsibilities, but industry watchers believe he will have some management responsibility. Executives at the massive firm reportedly hope to take advantage of his visionary boldness.
Of late, the ageing genius has turned his efforts toward philanthropic work. His Atlanta-based Turner Foundation donates $50 million a year to charities ranging from the Red Cross to the Friends of the Wild Swan. Turner pledged $1 billion to the UN in 1997 and then in 2001 wrote a check for an additional $25 million. A devoted environmentalist, he is the largest landowner in the US, with a total holding of 1.7 million acres, much of it purchased to save it from being developed.
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
