Ted Turner was never one to soften a forecast, even when the subject was himself.
“At 75, how much longer will I live? Till 80 maybe?” the CNN founder told Fortune‘s Pattie Sellers in a wide-ranging 2013 interview marking his 75th birthday. When Sellers pushed back—why not 90?—Turner allowed it was “a possibility,” but said he was “talking about practically.” It was, he explained, why he wouldn’t start anything new: “75 is too late to be starting new ventures. Particularly ones that take many years to reach fruition. I wouldn’t want to start anything without having a reasonable chance of seeing it be successful before I die or am incapacitated.”
