Yvon Chouinard, the billionaire founder of outdoor clothing brand Patagonia, said on Wednesday he is selling the company to a trust that will use its profits to fight the climate crisis.
Instead of selling the company or going public, Chouinard, who became famous for his alpine climbs in Yosemite National Park and has a net worth of $1.2 billion, is transferring ownership of the company of his family to a trust and a non-profit organization.
“Each year, the money we earn after reinvesting in the business will be distributed as a dividend to help fight the crisis,” he wrote in an open letter on the website of the Institute on Wednesday. company.
“Instead of extracting value from nature and turning it into wealth for investors, we will use the wealth created by Patagonia to protect the source of all wealth.”
Patagonia will continue to operate as a private, for-profit company, but the Chouinard family, which controlled the company until last month, no longer owns the company, according to The New York Times, which reported the decision more early Wednesday.
The company’s voting shares are transferred to the Patagonia Purpose Trust while the non-voting shares have been donated to the Holdfast Collective, a non-profit organization dedicated to fighting the environmental crisis and defending the environment. nature. The trust will be overseen by family members.
While wealthy people often make financial contributions to causes, The New York Times said the Patagonia founder’s stock structure meant he and his family would get no financial benefit — and in fact face a donation tax invoice.