// Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard gives company away to charitable trust
// Patagonia sells hiking and other outdoor clothing in over 10 countries
Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard has given away his company to a charitable trust to ensure its profits go towards tackling the climate crisis.
This will amount to around $100 million (£86 million) a year, he claimed, depending on the health of the company.
Patagonia sells hiking and other outdoor clothing in over 10 countries.
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“Instead of ‘going public,’ you could say we’re ‘going purpose.’ Instead of extracting value from nature and transforming it into wealth for investors, we’ll use the wealth Patagonia creates to protect the source of all wealth,” Chouinard wrote.
Instead of “going public,” you could say we’re “going purpose.” Instead of extracting value from nature and transforming it into wealth for investors, we’ll use the wealth Patagonia creates to protect the source of all wealth.
Read Yvon's letter at https://t.co/TolGLfHEGG
— Patagonia (@patagonia) September 14, 2022
He opted for the unique ownership model instead of selling the company to an owner that could potentially compromise Patagonia’s values, or going public and leaving the company beholden to shareholders first.
Instead, ownership of the outdoor apparel company, valued at around $3 billion, is being transferred to the Patagonia Purpose Trust and Holdfast Collective.
“It’s been nearly 50 years since we began our experiment in responsible business, and we are just getting started. If we have any hope of a thriving planet—much less a thriving business—50 years from now, it is going to take all of us doing what we can with the resources we have. This is another way we’ve found to do our part,” Chouinard said.
Founded in 1973, Patagonia’s estimated revenue was $1.5 billion this year, while Chouinard’s net worth is thought to be $1.2 billion.
