Buffalo Ted, Portrait: Ted Turner

NASHVILLE–Jet-lagged and exhausted from a weeklong trek in Tibet, two days of meetings with no-nukers, and an all-night pity party for the Atlanta Braves, Ted Turner slumps in a chair at Ted's Montana Grill, waiting for the opening festivities at his new bison and burger restaurant. And he's bragging. "Sure, I can cook. I can cook eggs real good. I can even flop 'em over without breaking the yellows," Turner says, flashing his trademark, gap-toothed grin. But even this notoriously self-unaware southerner is quick to see the ridiculousness of this picture. Turner–who invented 24-hour news, won the America's Cup, started the Goodwill Games, married Jane Fonda, donned Confederate dress and sword in business meetings, compared Rupert Murdoch to Adolf Hitler, and graced the cover of Time magazine as Man of the Year–boasting about not breaking eggs.

Dwindling fortune. In fact, Turner is the company's largest individual shareholder, with a stake of more than 3 percent, which also makes him the company's single biggest loser. AOL's share price has fallen 70 percent since the merger with Time Warner in January 2000, and Turner has seen his personal wealth, once put at over $9 billion, sink to roughly $2.2 billion. With those losses rippling through the Turnerverse, shortchanging his vast network of environmental and philanthropic organizations, Turner is anything but quiet in the boardroom.

In what author Richard Conniff refers to in his just released book, The Natural History of the Rich, as Turner's "alpha baboon" behavior–throwing temper tantrums to assert his dominance among other alphas–Turner has been leading a behind-the-scenes push to overthrow AOL Chairman Steve Case. And, some say, install himself as chairman. "Turner is clearly heading a large and influential group, including directors Fay Vincent and Stephen Bollenbach, who are putting a lot of pressure on Case to go," says a Wall Street analyst. At a glitzy pep rally last week at New York's Lincoln Center where AOL launched its new 8.0 software in response to Microsoft's new 8.0 version, Turner made a self-invited impromptu appearance. But after high-fiving CEO Richard Parsons, who may also be destined for Turner's hit list, and warning Bill Gates to "watch out," Turner exited the stage before Case showed up.

Maybe to check AOL's stock price, which he does almost obsessively. As a result of AOL's woes, the Turner Foundation, which grants up to $50 million annually for save-the-planet-style ventures, has had to lay off more than half its employees and stop financing new projects. Turner also has had to slow down delivery of his $1 billion gift to the United Nations and has fewer resources to devote to the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a foundation he started with former Sen. Sam Nunn to reduce nuclear weapons and other means of mass destruction. (Turner, a Civil War buff, opposes a unilateral war with Iraq, or as he likes to put it: "I love it when we attack countries that are smaller than us.") Meanwhile, the Atlanta Braves and the Atlanta Hawks, both owned by AOL but which Turner once owned outright and truly adores, could be put on the block as the firm trims costs. And Turner may not be able to stop the merger of CNN and ABC News if the numbers make sense. "That's hard for him," says a longtime friend.

More than money, Turner, once able to simply say "do it" and have it done, has lost much of his power. And that, say his friends, has left him sad and adrift. When former Time Warner CEO Gerald Levin made the decision to merge Time Warner with AOL, Turner was not privy to strategy talks. Soon after, he was fired. With his then eight-year marriage to Fonda coming to an end, he had no wife, no job, and no corporate kingdom. "Ted has always been a gracious underdog, but he's had a rough couple of years," says Robert Wussler, CEO of Ted Turner Pictures and a trusted friend of Turner. "He can handle the financial losses, but he's lost his authority and much of his control, and that's more difficult than anything else."

What Turner can no longer control in the corporate world, however, he is making up for in the natural one as a landowner and environmentalist–albeit a controversial one, as Turner loves to hunt. With ranches in Montana, New Mexico, and several other states, Turner owns 1.8 million acres in the United States, making him the largest landholder in the nation. And he is using his ranches to help revive endangered species like wolves, revolutionize grazing, and, of course, make money. Turner "is the most engaged guy on my board," says Michael Phillips, whom Turner stole away from a top job at Yellowstone National Park to head up the Turner Endangered Species Fund. "He doesn't stop."

Home on the range. Which is why he is in Nashville extolling the virtues of bison burgers and pot roast when he'd rather be at home. ("I wanna go to bed," Turner moans frequently throughout the evening.) Turner is now the country's biggest bison rancher, with about 10 percent of the buffalo population on his dole. This was a good thing when the historic hairy beasts were selling for $2,000 a head. But when the price fell to $500 around the same time Turner got sidelined at AOL, the breeder went into business with steakhouse mogul George McKerrow Jr.; the duo plan to open as many as 40 Ted's Montana Grills across the country over the next several years.

It was McKerrow's idea to call the place Ted's, not Turner's. "Teds are as common as fleas on a dog," says Turner. The grills, with high gloss, low prices, and an Old West feel, specialize in bison, which Turner points out is more healthful than the beef also on the menu and, much to his satisfaction, grunts rather than moos. The four restaurants operating so far are in the black, Turner says, despite a soft economy. When confronted with the notion that success as a restaurateur may mean future generations would remember him more for buffalo burgers than for broadcasting, Turner lets loose one of his well-known, place-holding "aaaahhhhhs" and finally says: "I can live with that."

But those who know him say it will never happen. "All he needs now is someone to light that fire in him, and he could create CNN all over again," says Reese Schonfeld, the media entrepreneur who started CNN with Turner, then savaged him in his book, Me and Ted Against the World. "I don't know whether he will or not," says Schonfeld. "But it would sure be fun to see him try."

One must have a heart of stone not to feel sorry for the guy.
This is for you, Ted Turner:

<< Turner–who ..... won the Americas' Cup ..... >>

No he did not. Back in the days when the [NY] host club changed the rules as many times during the series, as it took to ensure its retention, he "defended" it.

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