TED TURNER – $23.7 MILLION, SOUTH CAROLINA

In a tragic turn of events, Ted Turner was thrust into the media business. He took over his father’s billboard business, Turner Outdoor Advertising. Ted later ventured into radio, purchasing a few stations, which later would be part of the Turner Broadcasting System. Being a visionary of his time, he was one of the many to innovate and use satellite broadcasting. He then bought the Atlanta Hawks and Atlanta Braves sports team and founded the Goodwill Games in 1986.

Ted would later launch CNN, a 24/7 news broadcast in 1980. With a diverse revenue stream and some good investment planning, he would become the second-largest landowner in the United States, owning a private island off the coast of South Carolina. He reportedly had purchased the 4,680-acre property in 1979. The property’s main house was said to have five bedrooms and five bathrooms and had been reported to have been sold for $23,777,000.