Owner of Patagonia Yvon Chouinard donates company to save the planet

• Patagonia owner is donating the business to a trust.
• He is known for his commitment to environmental concerns.
• The trust will combat the global warming crisis.

The wealthy creator of the outdoor clothing firm Patagonia, known for his commitment to environmental concerns, has announced that he is donating the business to a trust that will use the proceeds to combat the global warming crisis.

Yvon Chouinard, 83, who earned fame for his alpine climbs in Yosemite National Park and has a net worth of $1.2 billion, could have sold the $3 billion brand or gone public with it. On Wednesday, he announced the news.

Instead, he, his wife, and their two kids consented to give a trust in charge of making sure the firm’s environmental ideals are upheld all of Patagonia’s voting shares, or stock that provides the bearer voting rights, in the company.

All of Patagonia’s non-voting shares have been transferred to a nonprofit organisation that promotes environmental protection and conservation as well as the fight against climate change. Additionally, corporate revenues will be given to the charity.

In an open letter that was published on Patagonia’s website on Wednesday, Chouinard stated that “Earth is now our lone shareholder.”

He said, “I never wanted to be a businessman. “I made climbing gear for myself and my buddies in the beginning as a craftsman, then I moved into clothing.”

“As we started to see the degree of global warming and ecological degradation, as well as our personal role to it, Patagonia committed to utilising our firm to transform how business was done,” he continued.

Hey, friends, we just gave our company to planet Earth. OK, it’s more nuanced than that, but we’re closed today to celebrate this new plan to save our one and only home. We’ll be back online tomorrow.https://t.co/fvRFDgOzVZ

— Patagonia (@patagonia) September 14, 2022

Patagonia, which was established approximately 50 years ago, rapidly shown its dedication to protecting the environment by carefully selecting the raw materials for its products and giving one percent of its annual sales to environmental non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

Chouinard, however, believes that this is no longer sufficient.

Selling Patagonia and donating the proceeds was one option. He wrote in the letter, “But we couldn’t be sure a new owner would uphold our principles or keep our team of people employed across the globe.”

He claimed that going public would have been a “disaster” since even well-intentioned public corporations face excessive pressure to maximise short-term profit at the price of long-term vitality and accountability.

Patagonia will continue to be a business that is concerned with its bottom line and is run by a CEO and board of directors.

The Chouinard family will no longer receive compensation from the business but will continue to serve on the board, manage the trust, and direct the nonprofit’s charitable endeavours.

Board members of Patogania praised the choice after it was made public.

Charles Conn, the board’s chair, wrote in an open letter, “Instead of exploiting natural resources to create shareholder profits, we are turning shareholder capitalism on its head by making the Earth our only stakeholder.”

He continued, “As a closely held company, this huge change was easier for us than others. But the point is for companies to make transparent purpose commitments that make sense to their business, and to be held to account by their communities.”

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