Patagonia's creator offered the full company, worth $3 billion, to combat climate change

September 16, 2022: -Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard, his spouse, and two adult children give away their ownership in the apparel maker he started some 50 years ago, which dedicates all profits from the company to projects and organizations that protect wild land and biodiversity and fight the climate crisis.

According to the New York Times, the company is almost about $3 billion. A climate-focused trust will now own the privately held company’s stock and a group of nonprofit organizations known as the Patagonia Purpose Trust and the Holdfast Collective, the company said in a statement, noting “every dollar that is not reinvesting back into Patagonia will be distributed as dividends to protect the planet.”

The trust will get that votes stock, which is 2% of the total, and will use it to create a “more permanent legal structure to enshrine Patagonia’s purpose and values.” It will be overseen by members of the family and close advisors.

The Holdfast Collective owns all the non-voting stock of Patagonia, which amounts to 98%.

Patagonia expects to generate and donate about $100 million annually, depending on the business’s health. The company now sells new and used outdoor apparel, gear for outdoor activities such as camping, fishing, and climbing, and food and beverages made from sustainable sources.

As a certified B-Corp and California Benefit Corporation, Patagonia already donates one percent of its sales yearly to grassroots activists, and it intends to keep doing so. Lesser than 6,000 companies around the world are certified as B-Corp businesses. To gain certification, they must meet strict environmental, social, and governance standards and benchmarks set by B Labs.

Ryan Gellert continues to serve as Patagonia’s CEO, and the Chouinard family remains on Patagonia’s board following the apparel maker’s expanded philanthropic strategy. U.S its employees on Wednesday about this move, the company updated its website to state that “Earth is now our only shareholder.”