Ted Turner Children: AOL Deal Cut His Time Warner Stake to 4%

Ted Turner children came up in October 2006 as the businessman revisited how his Time Warner stake had been cut from about 11% to roughly 4% after the AOL transaction. He said he did not know whether Jerry Levin made the deal in part to weaken his influence, a remark that came as Turner stood inside Ted’s Montana Grill in Midtown Manhattan.

Time Warner Stake

Turner sold Turner Broadcasting to Time Warner in 1996 and received around $7.5 billion in Time Warner stock. Turner Broadcasting owned, TBS, TNT and the Cartoon Network, and the stock he received made him one of the company’s largest shareholders. The AOL transaction later reduced that holding by more than half, shrinking Turner’s leverage inside the combined company.

In October 2006, Turner was asked whether Jerry Levin did the AOL deal in part to dilute his shareholder position. Turner answered, “I don’t know if it was the main reason.” The exchange took place at the opening of Ted’s Montana Grill Restaurant in midtown Manhattan, on the ground floor of the Time & Life Building.

Jerry Levin and 2001

Jerry Levin effectively removed Turner’s management authority in 2001 after Time Warner’s sale to AOL. Turner had once been vice chairman and oversaw his former networks before the purchase, but the new share structure left him with far less say in the company he had helped build.

The friction in the story is simple: Turner had accepted a standstill agreement that barred hostile action against Time Warner and prevented him from buying more stock, yet the AOL deal still changed his position from major shareholder to far less influential owner. Timothy Hutton was at the restaurant during the first hour or so, alongside Pattie Sellers, the Fortune writer who was with Turner that day.

Ted’s Montana Grill Opening

Turner, who died on Wednesday at age 87, returned to the subject at a public moment rather than in a corporate filing. The setting mattered because the discussion was not abstract: it came after years in which his ownership had fallen from about 11% to roughly 4%, while Jerry Levin’s decisions had already stripped away his management authority.

For readers tracking the legacy of the AOL-Time Warner merger, the next fixed point is the record of what Turner said in that October 2006 exchange. His answer remains the clearest statement in the material here: he could not say whether the AOL deal was meant to dilute him, only that he did not know if that was the main reason.