“I guess that check from Al Jazeera must have cleared, because Al Gore is in the news with another major score,” Igor Greenwald reports for Forbes. “Two weeks after pulling down a reported $100 million from the sale of Current TV to the Qatar-based news network, the man so many love to hate is at it again, this time by exercising options entitling him to buy 59,000 Apple shares for the excellent price of $7.475 each.”
“So Gore has just spent a little over $440,000 to acquire stock worth nearly $30 million as of Thursday’s close,” Greenwald reports. “And what did he do for all that money? Attended a board meeting a few times a year for the last decade. Had Steve Jobs’ back when it counted. That’s all. Not bad for someone who didn’t invent the Internet.”
Greenwald opines, “Guess what? He made his millions fair and square—which is to say as fairly as the next guy. He was brought onto Apple’s board by Steve Jobs—the man who gave Gore the options to buy the stock at its price at the time, the same man who then turned that piffle into a vast fortune. Gore was there for the run from $7 a share to $700 a share—in fact those options had to be exercised in March by the 10th anniversary of his arrival.”
“Gore didn’t just make the guy who boosted the share price a hundred-fold comfortable. He handled tricky assignments like investigating the backdating of executive options, so Jobs could concentrate on iThings,” Greenwald writes. “And while doing that he found the time to push global warming way up the political agenda, advise Google and join Kleiner Perkins as a venture capitalist. And, of course, to turn his little cable TV channel into a $100 million payday.
Greenwald writes, “So yeah, Al Gore knows something about capitalism… As a vice president, Gore was, well, a vice president. But as a businessman, he’s been nothing short of brilliant. I’m glad Silicon Valley rewarded that talent. And if you’re mad instead, you must be a socialist.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Slammed those puppies right into the lockbox, Al did.
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Apple board member Al Gore sells Current TV to Al Jazeera – January 3, 2013
Apple board member Al Gore inaugurated into Internet Hall Of Fame – April 25, 2012
Apple board member Al Gore faces conflict of interest charges over Apple’s hydrogen power plans – April 9, 2012
Al Gore accused of abusing his Apple Board of Directors position for personal gain (with video) – February 22, 2012
Apple board member Al Gore accused of being a ‘crazed sex poodle’ in police statement – June 24, 2010
Apple Board member Al Gore to separate from wife Tipper after 40 years of marriage – June 1, 2010
Apple Board member Al Gore gets 10,387 more Apple options – March 1, 2010
Apple Board member Al Gore mocked at Apple shareholders meeting – February 26, 2010
Apple board member Al Gore gets option to buy 10,000 shares – March 24, 2008
Apple pays tribute to Al Gore’s Nobel Peace Prize win – October 12, 2007
Environmental groups tell Al Gore to push for greener Apple – April 4, 2007
