Ted Turner departs media conglomerate

ATLANTA — Ted Turner was uncharacteristically understated Friday as he departed Time Warner, the media conglomerate that swallowed his cable network company and slowly sidelined him as a mover and shaker in the businesses that he helped to create.

The CNN founder told Time Warner shareholders at their annual meeting he regrets not being able to do more for them.

"I just wish the last five years I could have made a bigger contribution," Turner said. "I hung in there as long as I could. I've done my best."

With that, he borrowed newscaster Edward R. Murrow's famous sign-off, said "Good night and good luck" and left the Georgia World Congress Center after not standing for re-election to Time Warner's board of directors.

A video tribute to Turner was played at Friday's meeting in Atlanta, and later former CNN chief Tom Johnson offered a moving personal tribute, though Turner had left the meeting by that point.

Turner became a director of Time Warner in 1996 when the media conglomerate bought his cable networks company Turner Broadcasting Systems.

Turner, 67, now focuses mostly on philanthropic efforts. He is chairman of the United Nations Foundation, which he started with a $1 billion pledge to the agency in 1997, and co-chairs the Nuclear Threat Initiative with former U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn of Georgia. He also owns a restaurant chain that serves bison meat.