Founder of Patagonia Donates Entire $3B Company, Shifts Focus to Climate Change
Good news! Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard, along with his wife and two children, has transferred ownership of the company to a series of trusts and non-profits. The company will still remain a privately held company but any profits will go to the mitigation of climate change and the protection of environmental wilderness. Exact figures are difficult to determine for private companies but the value of the company is an estimated $3B and the profits could be a s much as $100MM per year.
Current Patagonia CEO, Ryan Gellert, was tasked with finding a structure that allowed for tax benefits and also kept the company intact, and assumingly still under control of the Chouinard family. "They wanted us to both protect the purpose of the business and immediately and perpetually release more funding to fight the environmental crisis. We believe this new structure delivers on both and we hope it will inspire a new way of doing business that puts people and planet first."
Source: AP News