Tuners story of new land purchase

[CattleArmy]

VALENTINE, Neb. (AP) - Ted Turner has purchased a 28,000-acre ranch in the Nebraska Sandhills for $9.5 million -- adding to the nearly two million acres he already owns in seven states.

The CNN founder, who is the largest private landowner in North America, bought the land Tuesday at a public auction. A ranch manager for Turner Ranches placed the successful bid of $364 per acre ahead of 19 other bidders.

The Cherry County ranch had been in the same family for 100 years. The family sold it to collect an inheritance, the result of a May order from Cherry County District Court.

Judge Mark Kozisek ordered that the land be sold instead of divided.

Turner owns several ranches in Nebraska and other states and uses them mainly to raise bison.

He paid almost 18 million for a 58,000-acre ranch in the Sandhills in 2005 and bought a 45,000-acre ranch in Sheridan County in 1998.