Wednesday, 09 Jan 2013 01:18 PM

By Stephen Feller

Following the sale of his television network to Al Jazeera for half a billion dollars, when combined with other investments since leaving public service in 2000 for the private sector, Al Gore’s net worth of at least $300 million makes him richer than Mitt Romney.

Forbes estimates that the $100 million Gore will earn from the sale of Current TV, heavy involvement with Apple and Google in the early 2000s, and the founding of an investment firm a year after losing the presidential election have grown his personal wealth exponentially over the last decade.

Current TV announced on Jan. 2 that it had been sold to the Al Jazeera news network for $500 million. Gore’s 20 percent stake in Current, which he started with Joel Hyatt, gives him a $100 million take before taxes.

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Romney was estimated by Forbes to be worth about $230 million during the 2012 presidential campaign, so Gore's earnings on the network's sale would allow him to significantly surpass the net worth of the former Massachusetts governor.

In 2001, Gore began advising Google on environmental issues and is expected to have gained stock in the company before it went public three years later. He also joined the board of Apple in 2003, which he is still a member of, and is thought have at least $35 million of stock in the consumer electronics company.

The former vice president briefly held a position at Metropolitan West Financial before it closed, which led him to found his own firm, Generation Investment Management. In 2008, he also invested $35 million in Capricorn Investment Group, a private equity fund owned by former eBay president Jeffrey Skoll.

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