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Richer Than Romney: Al Gore Scores On Sale Of Current TV

This article is more than 10 years old.

When former Vice President Al Gore ran for president more than 12 years ago, he had less than $2 million in assets to his name. Now it appears he is on the verge of making more than 50 times that amount from just one deal.

On Wednesday it was announced that Al Jazeera would purchase his cable television network Current TV for a reported $500 million. According to a source close to the company, Gore, chairman of Current TV, owned approximately 20% of the San Francisco-based media company that  he cofounded with Joel Hyatt, giving him a $100 million pre-tax payday.

The creation and sale of Current TV is the latest of a number of Gore's savvy business moves since leaving the White House in 2001, when one of his most valuable assets was a Tennessee farm pasture worth less than $250,000, according to public documents. Taking into account taxes to be paid on the deal, possible earlier debt and the fact that Gore's representatives declined to comment, FORBES conservatively estimates the former vice president's net worth to be at least $300 million, making him wealthier than unsuccessful Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

Last May, FORBES estimated Romney's net worth to be around $230 million.

In Pictures: The World's Richest Politicians

Along with cultivating Current, Gore, 64, joined the board of Apple in 2003 and served as a senior adviser on green issues to Google beginning in 2001, three years before the company went public.   As of February, Gore, who is still an Apple director, held more than $35 million in stock and options in the Cupertino, Calif. technology firm. A spokesperson for Google did not disclose Gore's compensation when he was with the company and said that the internet giant no longer maintains any formal financial relationship with the former vice president.

Beyond Gore's involvement in the media business and with two of Silicon Valley's most influential companies, a large portion of his net worth is derived from his involvement with financial services firms. A year after losing the election, Gore was named vice chairman of Metropolitan West Financial Inc., a now defunct Los Angeles-based money manager, which then had more than $50 billion in assets under management. He held that position briefly before going on to found global investment firm Generation Investment Management with former Goldman Sachs executive David Blood.

Gore still remains chairman of Generation Investment Management, a firm dedicated to an "investment philosophy that integrates sustainability research with rigorous fundamental equity analysis," according to its website. Sources close to the company say the London-based firm has global assets under management of nearly $7 billion, while documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission reveal investments in companies including Amazon, eBay, Colgate-Palmolive and Procter & Gamble.

"We and others have called for a more responsible form of capitalism, what we call sustainable capitalism: a framework that seeks to maximize long-term economic value by reforming markets to address real needs while integrating environmental, social and governance (ESG) metrics throughout the decision-making process," wrote Gore and Blood in a Wall Street Journal op-ed from December 2011.

Perhaps the most telling sign of Gore's rise in personal wealth can be seen from his own $35 million investment in Capricorn Investment Group, an investment manager and private equity fund founded by billionaire and former eBay President Jeffrey Skoll. In 2008, Gore invested in the Palo Alto, Calif.-based firm through an LP named after his hometown of Carthage, Tenn., according to public filings.

Gore is also actively involved with Silicon Valley venture capital giant Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, where he has been an investing partner focusing on green technologies since 2007. A spokesperson for the venture firm declined to disclose the nature of his financial relationship with the company.

Edwin Durgy, Jeff Bercovici and Sue Radlauer contributed to this story.

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