PATAGONIA’S FOUNDER HAS given away his multi-billion company to a non-profit organisation in an effort to combat climate change.
Its founder Yvon Chouinard says “Earth is now our only shareholder”.
“If we have any hope of a thriving planet, much less a business,” he added, “it is going to take all of us doing what we can with the resources we have.”
The move will see ownership of the outdoor clothing company, valued at around $3 billion, to the Holdfast Collective, a nonprofit “dedicated to fighting the environmental crisis and defending nature”.
In an open-letter announcing the change in ownership, Chouinard explained: “Each year, the money we make after reinvesting in the business will be distributed as a dividend to help fight the crisis.”
Chouinard claims he “never wanted to be a businessman” and that when he began to “witness the extent of ecological destruction, Patagonia committed to using our company to change the way business was done”.
He says the company began to use materials that caused less harm to the environment and gave away one percent of sales each year.
However, while he said the company was doing its best – and will continue to donate one percent of sales – he added that Patagonia needed to “find a way to put more money into fighting the crisis”.
“Truth be told, there were no good options available,” said Chouinard, “so, we created our own.”
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
Chouinard says one option was to “sell Patagonia and donate all the money,” but he expressed concern that the new owners would “maintain our values”.
Another option was to take the company public, but Chouinard claims that would have been a “disaster”, with “pressure to create short-term gain at the expense of long-term responsibility”.
“Instead of ‘going public,’” explained Chouinard, “you could say we’re ‘going purpose’.”
This culminated in ownership of the company being transferred to the Holdfast Collective.
“Each year, the money we make after reinvesting in the business will be distributed as a dividend to help fight the crisis,” said Chouinard.
The Patagonia Purpose Trust, which is “guided” by the Chouinard family, will continue to own all of the voting stock of the company.
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