Al Gore sees VC green

Posted Nov 12th 2007 3:49PM by Tom Taulli
Filed under: Other Issues, Good news, Google (GOOG), Apple Inc (AAPL), Amazon.com (AMZN), Intuit Inc (INTU), Politics, Green Stocks

Not long ago, Al Gore seemed like a has-been. Then he snagged both an Academy Award and the Nobel Peace prize.

Will these accolades persuade him to run for president again?

Perhaps not. Perhaps there are more effective ways to enact sweeping change. To wit: Gore has become a partner at the esteemed venture capital firm, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. The firm has invested in such game-changing companies as Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), Intuit (NASDAQ: INTU), and Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN).

Gore's job is a no-brainer -- focusing on investment opportunities in greentech. And there are likely to be some mega winners. After all, the global energy business is about $7 trillion.

Actually, Gore is no stranger to business and technology (hey, didn't he invent the Internet?) Keep in mind he sits on the board of Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and is an adviser to Google. Gore says he will donate 100% of his Kleiner salary to the Alliance for Climate Protection, which focuses on accelerating policy solutions to the global warming crisis.

But, as part of the powerful Kleiner, Gore will have a great platform to try out his ideas and perhaps save the world.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates DealProfiles.com.

Tags: AAPL, Al Gore, AlGore, AMZN, An Inconvenient Truth, AnInconvenientTruth, Goog, Gore joins Kleiner Perkins, GoreJoinsKleinerPerkins, Green tech, Greentech, inthenews, Kleiner Perkins, KleinerPerkins, Nobel Peace Prize, NobelPeacePrize

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

11-12-2007 @ 5:35PM

Beltway Greg said...

Al, what a sissy boy. So what you lost.
Hate to say it but Bill Clinton knew what to do when
he lost. He got back up and got back in the fight.
All the great ones do. A couple of years ago when Al Jr. got in trouble at St. Albans for drugs Al moved him to Sidwell (Both tony prep schools here in DC), because he felt slighted by the administration at Albans. You can love Clinton, you can hate Clinton, you can love Bush, or you can hate Bush, but them boys can take a punch. Seriously, a venture capital firm or the presidency of the United States? It reminds me what Jobs said to Scully all those years ago, "Do you want to sell sugar water or do you want to change the world?". Al would rather make money rather than make a difference.

Beltway Greg

11-14-2007 @ 5:34PM

KENGINE said...

Dear Beltway Greg
I think Al is going to get most of that 7 trillion $ that the energy sector generates. This is the kind of money to make real change.Being President is now below him.

KENGINE

11-13-2007 @ 11:22AM

Gumby said...

I wonder how we make money kicking smokers off streets? I wish we could! Only Government can do that by adding annoyance taxes on cigarettes packs which is great! Too many smokers lost homes because of that dumb habit and annoying passer bys.