Patagonia Founder Gives the $3B Company Away to Help Fight Climate Change
The billionaire founder of Patagonia has given his company away to help fight the climate crisis, according to a Wednesday announcement.
“While we’re doing our best to address the environmental crisis, it’s not enough. We needed to find a way to put more money into fighting the crisis,” Yvon Chouinard, who started the outdoor apparel brand almost 50 years ago, wrote in a Wednesday letter. “We can save our planet if we commit to it.”
Patagonia’s website now reads, “Earth is now our only shareholder.”
Chouinard and his family have transferred their ownership in the company, worth about $3 billion. Patagonia’s new owners are environmental nonprofit the Holdfast Collective and the Patagonia Purpose Trust, created by Patagonia “to protect the company’s values.”
