Patagonia

Moving forward, Patagonia's profits that are not re-invested into the business will be donated to a group of nonprofit organizations fighting climate ...

Patagonia expects to generate and donate about $100 million annually depending on the health of the business. After informing its employees on Wednesday about this move, the company updated its website to state that "Earth is now our only shareholder." It will be overseen by members of the family and close advisors. Even public companies with good intentions are under too much pressure to create short-term gain at the expense of long-term vitality and responsibility. Another path was to take the company public. One option was to sell Patagonia and donate all the money.

All future Patagonia profits that aren't reinvested into the company will go toward combating climate change, the company said, stripping founder Yvon ...

[as a billionaire](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/14/climate/patagonia-climate-philanthropy-chouinard.html?), he told the New York Times. “We are going to give away the maximum amount of money to people who are actively working on saving this planet.” He is no longer a billionaire. [Billionaire No More: Patagonia Founder Gives Away the Company](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/14/climate/patagonia-climate-philanthropy-chouinard.html?) (New York Times) [From Climber To Billionaire: How Yvon Chouinard Built Patagonia Into A Powerhouse His Own Way](https://www.forbes.com/sites/danielasirtori/2017/03/20/from-climber-to-billionaire-how-yvon-chouinard-built-patagonia-into-a-powerhouse-his-own-way/?sh=143c6a12275c) (Forbes) [Patagonia’s Billionaire Founder To Give Away The Millions His Company Saved From Trump's Tax Cuts To Save The Planet](https://www.forbes.com/sites/angelauyeung/2018/11/29/patagonias-billionaire-founder-to-give-away-the-millions-his-company-saved-thanks-to-tax-cuts/?sh=361c5e681d6f) (Forbes) His inclusion on the list “ [really pissed me off](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/14/climate/patagonia-climate-philanthropy-chouinard.html?),” he said, because he didn’t have $1 billion in the bank and doesn’t “drive Lexuses.” Forbes first included Chouinard in its lists in 2017 based on the value of Patagonia, not the cash in his bank account. [New York Times](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/14/climate/patagonia-climate-philanthropy-chouinard.html?), which first reported the news. [already donated $50 million](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/14/climate/patagonia-climate-philanthropy-chouinard.html?)). [$1.2 billion](https://www.forbes.com/profile/yvon-chouinard/?sh=88d49324fb5d) before he relinquished control of the company. [$100 million](https://www.patagoniaworks.com/press/2022/9/14/patagonias-next-chapter-earth-is-now-our-only-shareholder)—the organization hasn’t specified how it plans on using the money. [the company says](https://www.patagoniaworks.com/press/2022/9/14/patagonias-next-chapter-earth-is-now-our-only-shareholder) will “enshrine Patagonia’s purpose and values” and “demonstrate as a for-profit business that capitalism can work for the planet.” [an open letter](https://www.patagonia.com/ownership/) that he considered selling the company and donating the proceeds or even going public, but he decided to transfer its ownership to keep the company’s workers employed and maintain Patagonia’s values. [10-figure fortune](https://www.forbes.com/profile/yvon-chouinard/?sh=88d49324fb5d) from his outdoor outfitter empire—have relinquished their ownership of the 49-year-old company, transferring it to trusts and nonprofit organizations and pledging Wednesday to redirect Patagonia’s future profits toward [fighting climate change](https://www.patagoniaworks.com/press/2022/9/14/patagonias-next-chapter-earth-is-now-our-only-shareholder).

Yvon Chouinard, the billionaire founder of the outdoor apparel brand Patagonia, said on Wednesday he is giving away the company to a trust that will use its ...

The trust will be overseen by members of the family. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard, who turned his passion for rock climbing into one of the world's most successful sportswear brands, is giving the entire ...

The program has resulted in $140m in donations for preservation and restoration of the natural environment, according to the company. Chouinard’s family donated 2% of all stock and all decision-making authority to a trust, which will oversee the company’s mission and values. In its nearly 50 years in operation, the Ventura, California-based company has been known for extensive benefits for employees, including on-site nurseries and afternoons off on good surf days. “As of now, Earth is our only shareholder,” the company announced. “Instead of ‘going public’, you could say we’re ‘going purpose’,” said Chouinard. “This is another way we’ve found to do our part.”

The billionaire founder of the outdoor fashion retailer Patagonia says he has given away his company to a charitable trust. Yvon Chouinard said that under a ...

Mr Chouinard is not the first entrepreneur to give wealth away. Instead, the Chouinard family, which always owned the company, has transferred it to two new entities. But he said both options would have meant giving up control of the business.

The bold business decision enshrines a new shareholder for the famous outdoor clothing company — planet Earth — and continues the Chouinard family's dedication ...

This is the sort of bold action that could spur broader change throughout both the public and private sectors. “One option was to sell Patagonia and donate all the money. “Another path was to take the company public. Instead of extracting value from nature and transforming it into wealth, we are using the wealth Patagonia creates to protect the source. "If we have any hope of a thriving planet 50 years from now, it demands all of us doing all we can with the resources we have. Even public companies with good intentions are under too much pressure to create short-term gain at the expense of long-term vitality and responsibility.”

A half century after founding the outdoor apparel maker Patagonia, Yvon Chouinard, the eccentric rock climber who became a reluctant billionaire with his ...

Some experts caution that without the Chouinard family having a financial stake in Patagonia, the company and the related entities could lose their focus. “What makes capitalism so successful is that there’s motivation to succeed,” said Ted Clark, executive director of the Northeastern University Center for Family Business. “It was important to them that they were not seen as the financial beneficiaries,” Mr. “I didn’t know what to do with the company because I didn’t ever want a company,” he said from his home in Jackson, Wyo. “One day he said to me, ‘Ryan, I swear to God, if you guys don’t start moving on this, I’m going to go get the Fortune magazine list of billionaires and start cold calling people,’” Mr. “In my 30 plus years of estate planning, what the Chouinard family has done is really remarkable,” he said. Barre Seid, a Republican donor, is the only other example in recent memory of a wealthy business owner who gave away his company for philanthropic and political causes. Because the Chouinards donated their shares to a trust, the family will pay about $17.5 million in taxes on the gift. Seid took a different approach in giving 100 percent of his electronics company to a nonprofit organization, Because the Holdfast Collective is a 501(c)(4), which allows it to make unlimited political contributions, the family received no tax benefit for its donation. “We are going to give away the maximum amount of money to people who are actively working on saving this planet.” “Hopefully this will influence a new form of capitalism that doesn’t end up with a few rich people and a bunch of poor people,” Mr.

The billionaire founder of the outdoor fashion retailer Patagonia says he has given away his company to a charitable trust.

Chouinard is not the first entrepreneur to give wealth away. Instead, the Chouinard family, which always owned the company, has transferred it to two new entities. But he said both options would have meant giving up control of the business. The Californian firm was already donating 1 percent of its annual profits to grassroots activists and committed to sustainable practices. OK, it’s more nuanced than that, but we’re closed today to celebrate this new plan to save our one and only home. Hey, friends, we just gave our company to planet Earth.

Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard says he will give his company over to a trust, with future profits being donated to causes fighting climate change.

"Even public companies with good intentions are under too much pressure to create short-term gain at the expense of long-term vitality and responsibility." The other option was to become a publicly traded entity. He added, "Instead of extracting value from nature and transforming it into wealth, we are using the wealth Patagonia creates to protect the source.

A half-century after founding the outdoor apparel maker Patagonia, Yvon Chouinard, the eccentric rock climber who became a reluctant billionaire with his ...

Some experts caution that without the Chouinard family having a financial stake in Patagonia, the company and the related entities could lose their focus. “What makes capitalism so successful is that there’s motivation to succeed,” said Ted Clark, executive director of the Northeastern University Center for Family Business. As for how the Holdfast Collective will distribute Patagonia’s profits, Chouinard said much of the focus will be on nature-based climate solutions such as preserving wild lands. The company was an early adopter of everything from organic cotton to on-site child care, and famously discouraged consumers from buying its products, with an advertisement on Black Friday in The New York Times that read, “Don’t Buy This Jacket.” “I didn’t know what to do with the company because I didn’t ever want a company,” he said from his home in Jackson, Wyoming. They also considered simply leaving the company to Fletcher and Claire. Because the Chouinards donated their shares to a trust, the family will pay about $17.5 million in taxes on the gift. “I don’t respect the stock market at all,” he said. The company has given away 1% of its sales for decades, mostly to grassroots environmental activists. Because the Holdfast Collective is a 501(c)(4), which allows it to make unlimited political contributions, the family received no tax benefit for its donation. “We are going to give away the maximum amount of money to people who are actively working on saving this planet.” Rather than selling the company or taking it public, Chouinard, his wife and two adult children have transferred their ownership of Patagonia, valued at about $3 billion, to a specially designed trust and a nonprofit organisation.

Yvon Chouinard expects outdoor clothing group to give $100mn a year to environmental causes.

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Every year, after reinvesting in the company, the money Patagonia makes will be given to a nonprofit to fight the climate crisis, the company says.

The family will pay about $17.5 million in taxes on the gift to Patagonia Purpose Trust. We’ll use the wealth Patagonia creates to protect the source of all wealth." According to [The New York Times](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/14/climate/patagonia-climate-philanthropy-chouinard.html), Patagonia sells more than $1 billion in apparel annually. [The New York Times reports](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/14/climate/patagonia-climate-philanthropy-chouinard.html). That leaves the other 98% to the Holdfast Collective, who holds all of the nonvoting stock. "While we’re doing our best to address the environmental crisis, it’s not enough.

Yvon Chouinard, the billionaire founder of outdoor apparel maker Patagonia, is giving his $3 billion company away for a greater cause: fighting climate ...

[recognized Patagonia](https://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/press-release/us-outdoor-clothing-brand-patagonia-wins-un-champions-earth-award) for its commitment to environmental sustainability and advocacy. The company, which Chouinard founded in 1973, is worth $3 billion, [according to the New York Times.](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/14/climate/patagonia-climate-philanthropy-chouinard.html) "Despite its immensity, the Earth's resources are not infinite, and it's clear we've exceeded its limits," Chouinard wrote on Wednesday. As part of those efforts, Patagonia sources eco-friendly clothing materials and annually donates 1% of its total sales to grassroots activists. [net worth](https://www.forbes.com/profile/yvon-chouinard/?list=rtb/&sh=2a3f5d474fb5), as of Thursday morning. He was also a craftsman who made climbing gear and apparel for himself and his friends. In the 1960s, he was a pioneering rock climber in California who lived out of his car and ate damaged cans of cat food he purchased for 5 cents apiece, the Times reported. We needed to find a way to put more money into fighting the crisis while keeping the company's values intact." We can save our planet if we commit to it." "The Patagonia Purpose Trust ... The two entities will ensure that all of Patagonia's profits go toward combating the climate crisis and protecting undeveloped land across the world, the company announced on Wednesday. [expects](https://www.patagoniaworks.com/press/2022/9/14/patagonias-next-chapter-earth-is-now-our-only-shareholdera) to generate and donate roughly $100 million in profits annually, depending on the health of the business, the company said.

Yvon Chouinard has put his money where his mouth is. The founder of Patagonia, the Ventura, CA-based retailer of outdoor apparel, has announced he and his ...

Also everything at Twitter is securities fraud, SPAC buyback tax and a Rick's Cabaret insider sale.

Self-proclaimed craftsman built outdoor clothing company to help climbers and offer 'enjoyable' working conditions.

We all had to come to work on the balls of our feet and go up the stairs two steps at a time. We wanted to have a job where we would be allowed to do that. He kept wearing the top – which was azure blue with two red and one yellow stripes – when back in the US, and his climbing friends asked where they could get one. Some years he spent more than 200 nights sleeping outside, and claims not to have owned a tent until he was almost 40. One year he spent weeks in the Rockies surviving on a case of 5¢ cans of tuna cat food mixed with oatmeal, potatoes, “ground squirrel, blue grouse, and porcupines assassinated à la Trotsky, with an ice axe”. While many people daydream of achieving a nine-zero fortune, for Chouinard it was a sign he had failed in his life’s mission to make the world a better and fairer place. Refusing to let it go, the reporter tried again saying Chouinard was a “very successful businessman” and “somewhere along the way you must have wanted to be a businessman”. All I ever wanted to be was a craftsman.” “I almost always got my limit of 10 lobsters and five abalone.” “Earth is now our only shareholder,” Chouinard, 83, said in a message to staff and customers. The pitons proved very popular with his friends and other climbers. “Being a dirtbag is a matter of philosophy, not personal wealth.

Founder Yvon Chouinard structured the transfer of his firm in a way that keeps control within the family and avoids taxes.