Al Gore $100 MILLION DOLLAR Makeover.Aint it great to be a politician & Chicken Little

Al Gore's $100 Million Makeover

Not long ago, he was the butt of jokes--lockbox, earth tones, a postelection

beard. Then he dusted off an old slide show and jumped with both feet into

the private sector. The untold story of how an epic loser engineered what

may be the greatest brand makeover of our time.

From: Issue 117 | July/August 2007 | Page 70 | By: Ellen McGirt |

Photographs By: Jeffery Cross and John Spinks

A l Gore is a funny guy. And, for his $175,000 speaking fee, he tells this

story: after leaving the White House and heading back to Tennessee sans

motorcade--"in a rented Ford Taurus," he sniffs--he and Tipper stop to get a

bite to eat at a Shoney's, "which, as you may know, is a low-cost family

restaurant." The people in the restaurant "made a huge fuss...over Tipper."

Then, a man spies Gore and stage-whispers, "Didn't he used to be the Vice

President? He's fallen so low." Peals of delight from the audience. Gore

smiles back. It's a nice moment.

But wait, there's more. Later, he goes on, he attempts the same story in

Nigeria. Punch line, laughter, applause--no problem. The next day, an

official at the airport yells out to him, "Call Washington!" Hmmm. "What

could be wrong in Washington?" he muses, scratching his chin. "That's when I

remembered it could be a lot of things." The crowd goes wild.

Come to find out, Gore explains, a reporter in Nigeria had lost a bit of the

story in translation. "Vice President Al Gore announced yesterday that he

and his wife, Tipper, have opened a low-cost family restaurant called

Shoney's and will be running it themselves," Gore intones. By the time he

landed in the United States, the story had hit the wires, and he

was--again--the butt of jokes on Leno and Letterman. Three days later, he

received a handwritten note from Bill Clinton, congratulating him on the

Shoney's deal. "We like to celebrate each other's successes in life," Gore

deadpans to uproarious laughter.

Funny guy, indeed. In one well-delivered anecdote, Gore manages to make fun

of himself, the election, his relationship with his former boss, the Bush

administration, and the media--and still come out on top. Gone is the

robo-candidate who provided fodder for conservative bile and late-night

merrymaking. (For a good time, google "SNL" and "lockbox.") After the 2000

election, Gore might have slunk away to a loser's life: a memoir here, a

visiting professorship there, the occasional keynote speech or celebrity

golf tournament. Instead, in what may be the greatest brand makeover in

history, Gore is being hailed as a visionary who was right about everything

from global warming to Iraq. At 59, he's an Academy Award winner, a

bestselling author, a front-runner for the Nobel Prize, and a concert

promoter who turned out to be a bigger rock star at this year's Grammys than

the rock stars themselves.

What no one is talking about is that he has also become a stunningly

successful businessman--and that has fueled his comeback. Since his

nonelection, Gore has become a millionaire many times over, bringing him, in

financial terms, shoulder to shoulder with the C-suite denizens he used to

hit up for campaign cash. In addition to the steady flow of six-figure

speaking gigs, he has become an insider at two of the hottest companies on

the planet: at Google (NASDAQ:GOOG), where he signed on as an adviser in

2001, pre-IPO (and received stock options now reportedly worth north of $30

million), and at Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), where he joined the board in 2003 (and

got stock options now valued at about $6 million). He enjoyed a big payday

as vice chairman of an investment firm in L.A., and, more recently, started

a cable-television company and an asset-management firm, both of which are

becoming quiet forces in their fields.

Financial disclosure documents released before the 2000 election put the

Gore family's net worth at $1 million to $2 million. After years of public

service--and four kids needing high-priced educations--Al and Tipper used to

fret occasionally about money. Not anymore. They have a new

multimillion-dollar home in a tony section of Nashville and a family home in

Virginia, and have recently bought a multimillion-dollar condo at the St.

Regis condo/hotel in San Francisco. Available data indicate a net worth well

in excess of $100 million.

It's good to be the president, even metaphorically, of Al Gore Inc. And that

helps explain why he's wary of reentering the political fray. Here, then, is

the untold tale of Gore's unlikely rebirth.

Gore greets me at the door of his suite at the Regency Hotel in New York in

late May: "I haven't seen you since Orlando!" He is in the city to promote

his new book, The Assault on Reason. I'd first been introduced to him

several weeks earlier at the Tribeca Film Festival, and we chatted again

briefly in Orlando, Florida, at a tech-geek conference of Adobe software

enthusiasts (who were treated to his global-warming speech, including the

Shoney's bit). But this is our first official interview, and he begins with

his game face on. Ever polite, he has been fielding questions about politics

nonstop--including at a taping of the PBS show Charlie Rose the night

before. He visibly relaxes, though, when we start talking about global

business. "I have really enjoyed the business world much more than I

expected," Gore says, settling back in his chair. He speaks animatedly about

incentive structures and how information flow creates opportunities.

One problem he had in politics, he says, was identifying an issue too

early--"'predawn' is the term I use"--to be able to act on it. But "in the

business world, particularly at a time when things are moving so swiftly, if

you can see it early, you can make a business opportunity out of it." He

pauses. "For whatever reason, the business world rewards a long-term

perspective more than the political world does."

By his own account, his makeover has been less the result of a conscious

strategy than of a few smart initiatives that happened to ripen in

sync--from Google's towering growth to the recent profitability of his media

startup, Current TV. "I've remarked to Tipper how amazing it is that both

Current and Generation [investment Management] have reached the next stage

of their development at almost exactly the same time." What defines the

ventures he has taken part in, he says, is "a revolutionary and

transformational concept" in industries that badly need change. But did he

expect such enormous financial success? He pauses. "It's all been a pleasant

surprise. And a lot of fun."

That's not how things looked in the first years after that trip back to

Nashville. In the spring of 2001, Gore returned from a vacation in the

Mediterranean with an unfortunate beard, and the late-night jokesters had a

field day. His first business move--signing on as an adviser to

Google--proved prescient, but Google wasn't yet a powerhouse. Almost no one

took note. (On his first day at Google, Gore recalls with a laugh, "Larry

[Page] and Sergey [brin] and the entire executive team had false beards

on.")

His most public effort was dusting off a slide show on global warming he had

put together in 1989. It was full of depressing data about melting ice caps

and killer hurricanes--not a likely vehicle to spark a resurrection. As

recently as May 2004, he took some serious ribbing for presenting a version

of it at an event timed to coincide with the goofy global-warming film The

Day After Tomorrow. A few months later, when television producer turned

environmental activist Laurie David invited her A-list pals to see the slide

show, she had a hard time getting them to attend. "People were still mad

about the election," she recalls. "And nobody cared about global warming."

What has changed since then is, in part, political: John Kerry fared worse

than Gore at the polls, and President George W. Bush has seen his approval

ratings tumble. Hurricane Katrina played a role, too, stirring fears of

climate change. But Gore's business efforts have also come together in a

crescendo that cannot be ignored. In fact, to understand the personal drive

and vision behind Gore's revival--and the philosophy that continues to take

his business, if not his political, brand forward--the place to begin is

with his two entrepreneurial efforts, Current TV and Generation.

Joel Hyatt is comfortably ensconced in his loft-style San Francisco office

at Current TV, Al Gore's now-profitable cable network. Hyatt, the CEO, is a

longtime friend of Gore's who made his millions by founding Hyatt Legal

Plans, a provider of low-cost legal services that was acquired by MetLife

(NYSE:MET) in 1997. He has taught entrepreneurship at Stanford's business

school and chaired the Democratic finance committee during the 2000

election. He doesn't talk easily about his front-row view of Gore's disputed

loss, and when he does, his voice shakes with emotion. "It's hard to move on

from something like that," he says.

But he did. After the election, Hyatt began talking with Gore about the

sorry state of television and the role that the broadcast media play in the

public sphere. "The line between news and entertainment is blurred," as Gore

now puts it. "Much of TV is mind deadening. It's a one-way conduit of

knowledge." The two men discussed what Hyatt calls "an utter lack of

innovation in the media industry"--a barely disguised oligopoly, as they saw

it, controlling both content and competition. "We decided that we wanted to

build a new kind of media company to democratize--small d--television first

and the media industry generally," Hyatt says. They would give viewers from

18 to 34 the means to create and control what went on the air--a

user-generated model now familiar thanks to the likes of YouTube and

MySpace, but a shot in the dark for TV back in 2002.

Undaunted, Gore and Hyatt went looking to buy a cable-TV network. The effort

quickly became a disaster. Meetings were taken, favors were called in, but

nobody wanted them. "We were told repeatedly, 'You're not going to start a

cable-television company,'" Hyatt recalls. "'There's no room in the industry

for you. Period.'" The only possibility they could find was a yawner of a

Canadian news network, called Newsworld International, or NWI, owned by the

French company Vivendi. Yet even here, Gore and Hyatt were initially

rebuffed. Gore had to tap then French president Jacques Chirac to arrange a

meeting with Vivendi executives. Negotiations dragged on for months. "There

were probably at least seven or eight times when [the deal] was dead and all

but buried," Gore recalls. Finally, after nearly a year of nail biting and a

cameo appearance by Barry Diller, who owned a part of the entities--Gore

lobbied him in person--Gore and Hyatt snagged NWI in May 2004 for $70

million. (Their investment partners included former Goldman Sachs senior

director Philip Murphy, who is now the Democratic finance committee chair;

Richard Blum, husband of California Senator Dianne Feinstein; Sun

Microsystems cofounder Bill Joy; and Bob Pittman, former chief operating

officer of AOL Time Warner.)

They had the network, renamed Current TV, but they still didn't know

precisely what it would air. At a meeting around Hyatt's kitchen table in

the summer of 2004, the nascent management team kicked around ideas--and

kicked them to the curb. One option was to give 200 talented unknowns all

around the world video equipment, train them, and set them loose to tell

stories. Hyatt and Gore's response: Not good enough. Gore was looking for

something "transformational," recalls Current exec Joanna Drake Earl, a

veteran of Paul Allen's Moxi media startup. "Transformational?" Earl

remembers with a laugh. "I mean...that's hard to manage to."

As Current's August 1, 2005, launch date approached--the old Canadian news

programming would end July 31--tensions ran high. "At one point," says

president of programming David Neuman, who had produced sitcoms on NBC and

Fox, "I got down on my hands and knees and begged for more time." Finally,

the team agreed on a formula. They would hire a crew of "vanguard

journalists," but work toward the goal of creating a network largely shaped

by its viewers, via a Web site that functioned like a production community.

Current TV, Gore's cable channel, turned a profit in only two years.

Today, less than two years in, at least 30% of the network's content is

viewer generated, called VC2. Amateur filmmakers, some in their teens,

upload three- to eight-minute documentary-style nonfiction segments, called

"pods," to the Current Web site. Online modules help aspiring filmmakers

navigate everything from framing a shot to negotiating music rights. The

online community comments on the videos and votes to "green-light" pods that

they want to see on air. Makers of the pods that are aired get $500; Current

gets a library of content to use in perpetuity--with no production costs.

The result is surprisingly engaging and unlike anything else on TV. The pods

shuffle through everything from cutting-edge bands and dogsled races, to

African villagers struggling with HIV/AIDs and dispatches from soldiers

serving in Iraq.

Current has also worked with advertisers to create viewer-generated

commercials, or VCAMs. To date, some 32 VCAMs have hit the air. "Once we

heard the concept, we got on board early on," says Brett Dennis, director of

media marketing for T-Mobile, which also runs traditional spots on the

network. "It provided us with a groundbreaking way to reach customers, and

to encourage them to engage with our brand." Plus, it's delightfully cheap:

$1,000 for every commercial that gets on the air. (If the ad is distributed

on other networks, the fee can go up to $50,000.) T-Mobile has already

selected three VCAMs, and hopes to do more; other VCAM advertisers include

Pop Secret, Sony, and L'Or

On Nov 12, 6:41 pm, "Harry Dope" <Democrats...@aol.com> wrote:

> Al Gore's $100 Million Makeover

>

> Not long ago, he was the butt of jokes--lockbox, earth tones, a postelection

> beard. Then he dusted off an old slide show and jumped with both feet into

> the private sector. The untold story of how an epic loser engineered what

> may be the greatest brand makeover of our time.

Gore is a piece of s---. He lectures people making $40k a year that

they have to "curtail their carbon footprint" while flying to climate

summits in Spain (TODAY) in his private Gulf Stream Jet.

I hope he crashes.

"It's Americans OR Democrats" <rander3127@gmail.com> wrote in message

news:1194911367.967949.146930@k79g2000hse.googlegroups.com...

> On Nov 12, 6:41 pm, "Harry Dope" <Democrats...@aol.com> wrote:

>> Al Gore's $100 Million Makeover

>>

>> Not long ago, he was the butt of jokes--lockbox, earth tones, a

>> postelection

>> beard. Then he dusted off an old slide show and jumped with both feet

>> into

>> the private sector. The untold story of how an epic loser engineered what

>> may be the greatest brand makeover of our time.

>

> Gore is a piece of s---. He lectures people making $40k a year that

> they have to "curtail their carbon footprint" while flying to climate

> summits in Spain (TODAY) in his private Gulf Stream Jet.

> I hope he crashes.

>

We can hope if it happens -- that it falls on you.

Harry Dope wrote:

> Al Gore's $100 Million Makeover

>

> Not long ago, he was the butt of jokes--lockbox,

a good idea - like paygo rules. Such rules have been proven to work -

look at the great fiscal discipline we achieved when Gore was in office.

earth tones,

Everyone I know has clothes in "earth tones." Gore has been wearing such

clothes his entire life. It's not a joke - except to morons like you.

a postelection

> beard.

Why is that a joke?

Then he dusted off an old slide show and jumped with both feet into

> the private sector. The untold story of how an epic loser

He's not a loser. WHen he was in government it worked well.

He is a spectacular winner. The current guys are the huge losers.

Peace and prosperity - Gore. War and looming bankruptcy - Bush.

"It's Americans OR Democrats" <rander3127@gmail.com> wrote in message

news:1194911367.967949.146930@k79g2000hse.googlegroups.com...

> On Nov 12, 6:41 pm, "Harry Dope" <Democrats...@aol.com> wrote:

>> Al Gore's $100 Million Makeover

>>

>> Not long ago, he was the butt of jokes--lockbox, earth tones, a

>> postelection

>> beard. Then he dusted off an old slide show and jumped with both feet

>> into

>> the private sector. The untold story of how an epic loser engineered what

>> may be the greatest brand makeover of our time.

>

> Gore is a piece of s---. He lectures people making $40k a year that

> they have to "curtail their carbon footprint" while flying to climate

> summits in Spain (TODAY) in his private Gulf Stream Jet.

> I hope he crashes.

All the while Bush is flying to vacations in a jet 50 times bigger on your

tax money, hahahahahaha.........

How much is Jenna's Princess shotgun-wedding and honeymoon going to cost us?

On Nov 12, 6:41 pm, "Harry Dope" <Democrats...@aol.com> wrote:

> Al Gore's $100 Million Makeover

>

> Not long ago, he was the butt of jokes--lockbox, earth tones, a postelection

> beard. Then he dusted off an old slide show and jumped with both feet into

> the private sector. The untold story of how an epic loser engineered what

> may be the greatest brand makeover of our time.

>

> From: Issue 117 | July/August 2007 | Page 70 | By: Ellen McGirt |

> Photographs By: Jeffery Cross and John Spinks

>

(crap snipped for your reading convenience)

Just thought you'd like this "The position at Kleiner Perkins Caufield

& Byers will provide former Vice President Al Gore with an opportunity

to nurture green businesses." This is in the New York Times headlined

"Investment Firm Names Gore as a Partner".

Times Topics: Al Gore

Bet he makes more than you! Bet a partner at Kleiner Perkins makes

more than $12 an hour. See, idiot, he's gonna invest other peoples

money in green technology. Making money for greens by investing in

green technology. Face it, he's smarter than you.

Its a money making scam you imbecile. Thats like NBC going green last week.

GE owns NBC and is going to making billions on this scam. You just dont get

it.

--

Quote Of The Week

"The Clintons Are A Terminally Unethical And Vulgar Couple, And They?ve

Betrayed Everyone Who Has Ever Believed In Them." - Bob Herbert, Columnist

NY Times Clinton

"Kevin Cunningham" <smskjc@mindspring.com> wrote in message

news:1194959956.958414.277590@57g2000hsv.googlegroups.com...

> On Nov 12, 6:41 pm, "Harry Dope" <Democrats...@aol.com> wrote:

>> Al Gore's $100 Million Makeover

>>

>> Not long ago, he was the butt of jokes--lockbox, earth tones, a

>> postelection

>> beard. Then he dusted off an old slide show and jumped with both feet

>> into

>> the private sector. The untold story of how an epic loser engineered what

>> may be the greatest brand makeover of our time.

>>

>> From: Issue 117 | July/August 2007 | Page 70 | By: Ellen McGirt |

>> Photographs By: Jeffery Cross and John Spinks

>>

> (crap snipped for your reading convenience)

>

> Just thought you'd like this "The position at Kleiner Perkins Caufield

> & Byers will provide former Vice President Al Gore with an opportunity

> to nurture green businesses." This is in the New York Times headlined

> "Investment Firm Names Gore as a Partner".

> Times Topics: Al Gore

>

> Bet he makes more than you! Bet a partner at Kleiner Perkins makes

> more than $12 an hour. See, idiot, he's gonna invest other peoples

> money in green technology. Making money for greens by investing in

> green technology. Face it, he's smarter than you.

>

>