Patagonia’s Founder Has Given The Company Away To Fight Climate Change

“Earth is our only shareholder.”🌎

The billionaire owner of outdoor fashionwear brand Patagonia has made a shock announcement to give away his company to fight the impacts of the climate crisis.

Patagonia is one of the most popular clothing brands worldwide, and can be seen worn on just about every uni campus and hiking trail.

Yvon Chouinard, Patagonia’s founder and owner, announced on Wednesday that the company, which is one of the world’s biggest sportswear brands, will now be totally dedicated to environmentalism.

“All of our profits, in perpetuity, will go to our mission to ‘save our home planet’,” the company said in a statement.

This is one of the biggest environmental actions made by a for-profit company ever.

It’s hard to put this decision into context, because it’s something no company has ever done before.

David Gelles, climate reporter for The New York Times, called it “a move with no precedent in the business world”.

This isn’t the first time Patagonia has acted out against the climate crises and other global issues.

Patagonia was one of the first companies worldwide to become a ‘B Corp’, meaning it meets social and environmental goals.

In 2020, Patagonia also suspended the use of Facebook ads, saying the social media network did too little to stop hate speech.

So, how will all this work?

Well, Patagonia is totally owned by Yvon and his family, but soon the ownership will shift.

Two per cent of Patagonia’s stock will be donated to a trust, which will make decisions for the company based on its core values.

The remainder of the ownership has been donated to a not-for-profit called Holdfast Collective, which has pledged to use all the profits to fight the climate crisis.

“Instead of ‘going public’, you could say we’re ‘going purpose’,” Yvon Said. “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.”

Patagonia has an annual revenue of around $1.5 billion USD, and Yvon is worth around $1.2 billion USD.

But the label of billionaire has “pissed off” the founder.

“I don’t have $1bn in the bank. I don’t drive Lexuses.”

Yvon was a keen rockclimber, who started the company in 1973 to provide the best outerwear gear for rock-climbers and other adventurers.

Patagonia’s decision is the latest in a trend of ‘environmental capitalism’, and with these issues continuing, it’s likely we’ll see a few companies follow suit.