The billionaire owner of Patagonia has sold his business to an environmental fund and non-profit.
The company will continue to produce outdoor clothing, camping supplies and other goods, but now all profits will go to organizations to fight the climate crisis.
Yvon Chouinard, the company’s founder and reluctant billionaire, said in announcing the decision: “I never wanted to be a businessman.
“I started out as a craftsman, making climbing equipment for me and my friends, then I moved on to clothing.
“As we began to witness the magnitude of global warming and ecological destruction, and our own contribution to it, Patagonia committed to using our company to change the way business was done. If we could do it. just by earning enough to pay the bills, we could influence customers and other businesses and maybe change the system along the way. “
Previously, Patagonia had given away 1% of sales each year and 2018 changed the business of the company, stating, “We are in business to save our home planet.”
But now, Mr Chouinard has said that this ‘is not enough’.
The company’s vote will go to the Patagonia Purpose Trust, which will “protect the company’s values.” The non-voting shares will go to Holdfast Collective, a non-profit organization that will use the company’s profits each year for environmental shares.
When deciding what to do with the company, Mr. Chouinard said that selling the company and donating the profits, or going public, would not guarantee Patagonia to continue its role as an activist.
In recent years, the company has become more outspoken on climate issues.
In 2018, Patagonia said it would donate all money earned from President Trump’s tax cuts to environmental causes.
A year earlier, in 2017, he also joined a lawsuit to prevent the federal government from shrinking Utah’s Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Landmarks.
A reluctant billionaire
Mr. Chouinard has always felt uncomfortable with the vast personal wealth his successful company has brought.
He told the New York Times: “I was in Forbes magazine listed as a billionaire, which really, really pissed me off.
“I don’t have $ 1 billion in the bank. I don’t drive Lexuse.”
When they decided what to do next, her children also refused to take over the company.
Ryan Gellert, chief executive of the company, told the NYT: “They felt very strongly about it. I know it sounds irreverent, but they really embody the idea that every billionaire is a political failure.”
Now all the company’s money will be channeled directly into “fighting the environmental crisis and defending nature”.
“It has been nearly 50 years since we started our responsible business experiment and we have just begun,” wrote Chouinard.
“If we have any hope in a thriving planet, much less a thriving business, 50 years from now, it will take all of us to do what we can with the resources we have. This is another way we have found to do our part.
“Despite its immensity, the Earth’s resources are not infinite and it is clear that we have exceeded its limits. But it is also resilient. If we are committed, we can save our planet.”
