Al 'Jazeera' Gore pockets $70M while handing Big Oil their own American TV network

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Al Gore’s Payday From Oil-Rich Qatar ‘Reeking With Irony’

Jan. 3 (Bloomberg) – In today’s “Movers & Shakers,” Bloomberg’s Deirdre Bolton reports that Al Gore is selling his Current TV network to Al Jazeera in a $500 million deal. She speaks on Bloomberg Television’s “In The Loop.”

Al Jazeera will pay about $500 million for Current TV, including the stake held by Gore, 64, according to two people with knowledge of the deal. The network is one of dozens of investments made by the former vice president since he lost the 2000 presidential race by a slim margin.

“It’s reeking with irony,” said Jeff Sonnenfeld, senior associate dean at the Yale School of Management, who studies corporate governance. “It seems to be at least a paradox in terms of his positions on sustainability and geopolitics.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-04/nobelist-gore-getting-70-million-from-qatar-funded-al-jazeera.html

Thanks Al, for selling out in grand fashion. Maybe we can expect Al-Jazeera to continue their indictment of dirty energy with hard-hitting pieces like this:

Is oil the future of energy?

"With the Middle East undergoing a wave of political upheaval, the emir of Qatar was quick to reassure the world's biggest consumers that energy supplies will continue to flow.

So, are we stuck with high energy prices? And will there be enough to meet global demand years from now?"

http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/insidestory/2011/12/201112664117686964.html

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1. hmm, sonnenfeld's biggest campaign contribution in 2012 was for a republican (shays)

a management professor looks at an entrepreneur who creates a big success and cashes out for a huge profit -- and finds something to complain about.

leave it to the republicans.


http://www.campaignmoney.com/political/contributions/jeffrey-sonnenfeld.asp?cycle=12

SONNENFELD, JEFFREY ALAN
BRANFORD, CT
06405 Yale University/Professor $2,500 01/31/2012 SHAYS FOR SENATE - Republican

[Gman]

2. I'm happy for Gore

He made a good investment then sold it for a nice sum. That's the way you do it. I'm proud of him.

[wtmusic]

3. You can't blame him.

I mean, $70 million smackeroos!

Of course that's chump change for the emir of Qatar. He's probably paid more for a call girl.

[Publiuus]

4. Good for him!

Awesome. Kind of reeks of capitalism.

[Gman]

6. Capitalism is not a bad thing.

Millions of people can feed their families and put a roof over their heads because of capitalism. It's the immoral and unethical capitalism that is the problem. Selling an investment for a profit, as Gore has done, is not.

[NoOneMan]

7. Can it perpetually improve the lives of 8 billion people without destroying earth?

Can socialism even do this?

[Starboard Tack]

5. Good for Al and Al Jazeera

Hopefully, more folk will start watching it and get some real news for a change.

[JDPriestly]

8. Maybe Gore decided that he could do a lot more good with the money

investing it in something other than Current TV.

[limpyhobbler]

9. Big Oil already owns an American TV network,

it's called ABCNBCCBSCNNMSNBCFOX

[hatrack]

10. As I understood it, capitalism was supposed to work even for people one didn't like . . .

Oh, and the Yale School of Management . . . Hmmmm, could they maybe be one of the many business schools that have made money for decades for teaching the fine art of pissing in peoples' pockets and telling them it's raining?

Funny, I don't remember Bain Capital getting its startup capital from the supporters of El Salvadoran death squads getting quite the same . . . attention from the nation's best and brightest.

[wtmusic]

11. There's no sugarcoating it.

Al's making a ton of money by opening up a media portal for Mideast oil interests, and in just about every aspect of his personal life he's a textbook example of conspicuous consumption.

Bleh. He's pretty much undone all the environmental good he's done through rank hypocrisy.