Say what you will about Al Gore, but the man knows how to turn a profit. According to a Jan. 17 filing from the Securities and Exchange Commission, Gore took some of the $100 million he squeezed out of Al Jazeera in the sale of Current TV and exercised some of his Apple stock options—for an enormous gain.

As a director on Apple’s board, Gore held the option to purchase the shares at their price back when Steve Jobs invited Gore to come on board in 2003–$7.475 each. Gore sat on the option for the past decade as he watched the stock balloon. Then he spent about $441,000 on 59,000 Apple shares that—by today’s market value—are worth more than $29.6 million.

How did Gore manage such a steal? Well, according to Forbes, he rolled up his sleeves and lent his business genius from behind the scenes, helping Apple become the tech giant it is today.

“Gore didn’t just make the guy (Apple co-founder Steve Jobs) who boosted the share price a hundred-fold comfortable,” Forbes contributor Igor Greenwald reported. “He handled tricky assignments like investigating the backdating of executive options, so Jobs could concentrate on iThings.”

Prior to his recent option exercise, Gore owned 2,574 direct shares of Apple, giving him a new total of 61,574 shares worth about $31 million. And if Apple comes through with a positive earnings report next week, his windfall could increase substantially.

[Image via Tulane Public Relations/Flickr]