Entrepreneur and philanthropist Ted Turner has attracted his fair share of names during his life, but he's also been a trailblazer, from his founding of the all-news TV network CNN to the revival of the American Buffalo herd and now -- perhaps -- the establishment of solar energy as a viable alternative fuel. (Not that he didn't already have exquisite green credentials.)
Turner's latest venture comes after years of distancing himself from the AOL-Time Warner mega-merger, an event that that made him one of the richest men in the world and then, as the new company floundered, a very frustrated vice chairman and entrepreneur, whose historic billion-dollar stock pledge to the United Nations eroded in value.
Turner's no longer involved in Time Warner -- nor does he own a single share of the company -- but he continues in his entrepreneurial ways.
Turner bought a stake in the New Jersey-based company, DT Solar, and is bullish about the industry's prospects. "It's gonna’ be the biggest business opportunity the world has ever seen," he says. Turner, for the record, is not a proponent of corn-based ethanol.
