Patagonia founder turns billion-dollar company into charitable foundation

The founder and previous owner of outdoor company Patagonia, Yvon Chouinard, has donated his company to charitable foundations. The 83-year-old wants to make his assets available for environmental protection - especially for measures to combat climate change. "Earth is now our sole shareholder," according to a statement released Wednesday on the Patagonia website. According to the New York Times, Patagonia's goodwill is approximately $3.0 billion.

"We had to find a way to put more money into fighting this crisis while keeping the company's values ​​intact," said Chouinard. After all, only a planet worth living in offers the chance for a prosperous company. A sale or an IPO were not options.

"We could not be sure that a new owner would maintain our values ​​and continue to employ our employees around the world," it says. An IPO would even have been tantamount to a “disaster” – “because even well-intentioned listed companies are under too much pressure to seek short-term gains at the expense of long-term vitality and responsibility. To be honest: there weren't any good options. So we developed our own.”

All profits - according to the report about 100 million dollars a year - that are not reinvested in the company are to be used in the future via specially established foundations for the fight against global warming and for nature conservation.

"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," Chouinard told the New York Times.