Turner: Time Warner was getting less innovative

<p>Ted Turner lamented a decrease in innovation and risk-taking at Time Warner Inc. Monday night in his first public comments since announcing he wouldn't seek re-election to the board of the media conglomerate that had bought his cable networks company.</p><p>"I thought my company was more innovative when it was smaller," he said at Emory University, where he received a global innovation award. "My experience with a big company was somewhat disappointing."</p><p>Small companies must take risks to thrive, but large companies tend to "coast" and get "stuck with businesses that are no-brainers," he said.</p><p>The 67-year-old founder of CNN had publicly complained of being pushed aside in the company's hierarchy and spoke of being "fired" after retiring as vice chairman in 2003.</p><p>On Monday, he joked that when he "lost his job," nobody would hire him because of his age so he founded a tough business he knew little about _ the rapidly expanding restaurant chain Ted's Montana Grill, whose specialty is bison burgers.</p><p>Turner, who has recently been turning more toward his philanthropic efforts as chairman of the United Nations Foundation and environmental steward, also spared no criticism for U.S. policies that he said take into little consideration the international body and ignore the consequences of pollution.</p>

http://accesswdun.com/article/2006/2/129167