Posted on 08/27/2002 7:43:40 AM PDT by Tumbleweed_Connection
Ted Turner, apparently, is not a happy camper. Or a jolly rancher. That is because it has been a bad year to own stock in AOL Time Warner and livestock in the form of bison. And Turner, the vice chairman of AOL Time Warner, owns a lot of both. His huge stake in AOL Time Warner - he is the company's largest individual shareholder - was worth $7.2 billion when the merger of America Online and Time Warner closed in January 2001. It is now valued at $1.76 billion.
Then there is the bear market in buffaloes. Turner, who is the largest U.S. landowner, with 1.8 million acres (730,000 hectares) in ranches in Montana and four other states, is also the largest breeder of buffaloes. He owns about 30,000 head, or 10 percent of the total in the United States.
Two years ago, the going price for buffalo was $2,000 a head, but is now only about $300, according to David Carter, executive director of the National Bison Association. That is a plunge of 85 percent - even more than the 77.9 percent decline in AOL Time Warner shares in the same period.
While there may be only so much Turner can do about the price of buffalo meat, the problems of AOL Time Warner are giving him a lot to chew on, according to people who know him. Turner declined to comment.
Few expect him to demand a hands-on role at the company. After all, he willingly relinquished some day-to-day management duties in 1995 when he sold Turner Broadcasting to Time Warner for $7.5 billion. And he was removed from the operational flow chart when Time Warner merged with America Online. When Richard Parsons was named chief executive last year, Parsons did reach out to make Turner, a fellow board member, more active in management issues. Even so, Turner is still expected to remain the company's biggest inside critic. "He is not seeking a bigger role at AOL Time Warner," one of Turner's close associates said. But "he's not a happy camper."
He still supports Parsons, said people who know Turner, but he remains resentful toward the former chairman, Gerald Levin, and toward board members who did not heed Turner's urging to remove Levin much sooner than last December.
These people say Turner was pleased with the company's deal with AT&T last week, which finally untangled the complex Time Warner Entertainment joint venture that Levin had assembled over the years. But one person who knows Turner said that Turner remained unhappy about the other issues that continue to shadow the company's share price, including the questionable accounting practices at America Online before and during the merger with Time Warner.
Turner's concerns, this person said, are particularly grating to him because he was unhappy with the level of scrutiny by Time Warner and Levin before concluding the AOL merger. While Turner was publicly supportive of the merger as it was pending for most of 2000, behind the scenes he had some doubts, this person said. Turner now cites as evidence of that insufficient scrutiny, this person said, the company's failure to fully anticipate the implications of America Online's $6.7 billion obligation to buy from Bertelsmann the 50 percent of AOL Europe that AOL did not already own.
Bertelsmann called in that chit late last year, adding to AOL Time Warner's staggering debt load, which is now $28 billion. Certainly, given the stock market's decline the last two years, lots of billionaires are feeling a pinch. And with his $1.76 billion in stock, his huge land holdings and other assets, Turner is still part of the privileged few who make the circuit from one grand-scale residence to another by private jet, depending on the season and the magnate's whims.
Yet Turner's personal holdings are not solely a private matter. Few American billionaires have been as generous with charitable commitments as Turner, who has pledged $1 billion to the United Nations Foundation, a nonprofit group he set up in 1997. He has also promised $250 million to the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a foundation he set up two years ago to help stem the proliferation of nuclear weapons.
So far, Turner has given the United Nations Foundation $373 million. But that leaves $627 million due on the pledge. When he set up the foundation, Turner said he would donate $100 million a year, with the pledge to be paid off by 2007. Now, though, while he still plans to give the full $1 billion eventually, the payment schedule has been extended beyond the original 10 years, a foundation spokesman said. As for the Nuclear Threat Initiative, which is headed by Sam Nunn, the former Democratic senator from Georgia, Turner has provided $22.8 million so far, according to Cathy Gwin, a spokeswoman for the organization. In light of the decline in AOL Time Warner's share price, Gwin said, "it's in the best interests of NTI's future opportunities to only fund the most urgent and time-sensitive projects at this time."
Part of Turner's giving also includes the Turner Foundation, a charitable organization that holds 3.5 million shares of AOL Time Warner stock, according to the company's proxy statement, but that chunk is included in Turner's overall holdings.
The diminution of Turner's AOL Time Warner wealth has not been solely a result of the plunge in the stock price, which was as high as $55.77 in January 2001 but slipped to a closing low of $9.90 this month. Along the way, Turner has cashed out $311 million worth of the shares, according to government filings, given away at least $150 million worth of the stock to charity and dispensed an additional 1.7 million shares to members of his family.
At this point, Turner, who is 63, holds 138 million shares of AOL Time Warner stock, which lately has shown signs of recovery. The shares closed at $12.76 on Friday, up 28 percent from its recent lows.
As for the price of buffalo meat, it has stabilized, according to Carter of the bison trade group. That is partly the doing of Turner, who recently started a restaurant chain, Ted's Montana Grills, to promote buffalo meat.
"It is still a pretty small market," Carter said, "and the restaurants help promote it."
That's what you get for consorting with socialists.
You're only 63. It's not too late to change.
He KILLS the Buffalo and SELLS the meat to RESTAURANTS! What until his lefty firends find out about this!
Few American billionaires have been as generous withcharitableleft-wing commitments as Turner, who has pledged $1 billion to the United Nations Foundation, anonprofitUS-hating group he set up in 1997. He has also promised $250 million to the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a foundation he set up two years ago to helpstem the proliferation of nuclear weaponsweaken America's defenses.
Ha ha ha, sounds like the emu scam from a few years ago.
If you want to see real beef, check out my freep page.
-PJ
"Do you want chips with that buffalo?"
"Uh, no."
Hmmm, I didn't know he had any friends.Nothing brings a smile to my face,like reading that this Skunk has lost 6-7 BILLION DOLLARS in the Stock Market.LMAO!!!Too bad it couldn't be 'Permanent' loss by the way.
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