Business Notes REAL ESTATE

When cable-TV titan Ted Turner bought a 110,000-acre Montana cattle ranch for $22 million earlier this month, his new neighbors suspected ulterior motives. They imagined that Turner, who earlier had bought 21,000 acres nearby, might carve up the scenic Rocky Mountain property for homesites or even sell part of it to a New Age cult.

But the Atlanta-based businessman denies any such intentions. He told a Bozeman town meeting last week that he would sell rights to hunt elk on his property and plans to replace the ranch's 3,000 head of cattle with buffalo, which produce low-cholesterol meat. But Turner refuses to allow campers to cross his land. Says he: "I bought the place because I wanted to get away from people. We live in an increasingly overcrowded world, and I'm becoming a hermit."