Manufacturer of outdoor clothing Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard said that the “Earth” will own the company in the future.
What happened: “Earth is now our sole shareholder,” Chouinard recently wrote Letter. The founder said he is transferring 100% of the company’s voting shares to a trust established to protect the company’s values and 100% of the non-voting shares were given to a non-profit collective dedicated to “fighting the environmental crisis and defending nature”.
The new owners of Patagonia will be the Holdfast Collective and the Patagonia Purpose Trust. The collective will own 98% of the company and the non-voting shares, while the trust will own 2% and all voting shares.
The company is managed by Ryan Gellert as CEO together with all his employees under the direction of the Board of Directors. The Chouinard family will continue to serve on the board and lead the philanthropic work of the Holdfast Collective.
Why it matters: Patagonia is worth $3 billion and has been around for more than half a century, according to a report from the New York Times.
Chouinard, 83, was described as a “reluctant” billionaire in a New York Times report that said Trust and Collective should ensure the company’s $100 million in annual profits are used to fight climate change.
“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 said in an interview, according to the New York Times.
Recently a billionaire and co-founder of Microsoft Bill Gates also addressed climate change and its impact on food self-sufficiency in Africa.
Continue reading: Bill Gates humorously explained why he became a global target for conspiracy theorists: “They didn’t know” who Fauci was
