The Ted Turner Saga | Part 9: MGM Nightmares
Media Moguls with Web Barr
Closing and the Mounting Debt
Web Barr recounts the March 1986 close, Turner's $1.9 billion debt, and the looming September payoff.
In 1985, fresh off his failed bid for CBS, Ted Turner faced his own Rubicon moment. He could double down on a bigger, more cash-heavy hostile network takeover, or walk away and chase something even bigger and riskier. When billionaire dealmaker Kirk Kerkorian offered him MGM in a lightning-fast, all-cash deal, Ted pivoted to Hollywood, betting everything on the hidden value of film libraries and the future of cable. What followed was one of the riskiest acquisitions in media history, fueled by junk bonds, ambition, and instinct, and it would reshape Turner Broadcasting while nearly destroying it.
More From Hi Barr
Follow us on X + Instagram + YouTube + Linkedin
Sign up for our newsletter
Email us: contact@hibarrmedia.com
Listen to Hi Barr’s You Had To Be There podcast!
For business inquiries, please email: contact@hibarrmedia.com
Credits
Writing, research, and production by Web Barr.
Artwork by Dylan Lathrop.
Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com).
Chapters
- (00:00): Ted's Rubicon Moment
- (06:48): Kirk Kerkorian + MGM
- (28:00): Why MGM
- (50:00): Kerkorian's Offer
- (1:06:00): Michael Milken 101
- (1:50:00): Inside the Deal
- (2:20:00): Debt Nightmares
Sources
Books used in Episode 9. Get em here!
- It Ain't As Easy As It Looks: Ted Turner's Amazing Story
- Up All Night: Ted Turner, CNN, and the Birth of 24-Hour News
- Ted Turner Speaks: Insights From the World's Greatest Maverick
- CNN: The Inside Story: How a Band of Mavericks Changed the Face of Television News
- Confessions of an Advertising Man
- Lead Follow or Get Out of the Way: The Story of Ted Turner
- Media Man: Ted Turner's Improbable Empire
- Clash of the Titans: How the Unbridled Ambition of Ted Turner and Rupert Murdoch Has Created Global Empires that Control What We Read & Watch Each Day
- Call Me Ted
- Cable Cowboy: John Malone and the rise of the modern cable-TV business
- Me and Ted Against the World: The Unauthorized Story of the Founding of CNN
- Tinderbox: HBO's Ruthless Pursuit of New Frontiers
- Masters of Enterprise: Giants of American Business from John Jacob Astor and J.P. Morgan to Bill Gates and Oprah Winfrey
- Triumph of the Yuppies
- Three Blind Mice
- The Predators’ Ball: The Inside Story of Drexel Burnham and the Rise of the Junk Bond Raiders
- The Gambler: How Penniless Dropout Kirk Kerkorian Became the Greatest Deal Maker in Capitalist History
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The AI-powered Podcast Player
