John Malone, founder and chairman of Liberty Media, is now the largest private landowner in the U.S., The Land Report magazine says.

The magazine states Malone owns 2.2 million acres, which puts him just ahead of Ted Turner with two million acres.

Malone moved into the No. 1 spot with his purchase of one million acres of New England timber.

Prior to that purchase, he jumped into the land-buying headlines with his purchase of the famous Bell Ranch, a 290,100-acre operation in New Mexico dating to the 1824 Montoya Land Grant.

However, Turner is still No. 1 when it comes to the size of his bison herd, numbering 50,000.