Patagonia: Billionaire boss of fashion retailer gives company away

Image source, Campbell Brewer

The founder of the outdoor fashion retailer gave his company to a charity.

Under a new ownership structure, any profit that isn't reinvested in the business will go towards fighting climate change, according to Yvon Chouinard.

Depending on the health of the company, this will be around $100 billion a year.

Hiking and other outdoor clothing is sold by Patagonia in over a dozen countries.

The company has an estimated revenue of 1.5 billion and a net worth of over one billion dollars.

"Despite its immensity, the Earth's resources are not infinite, and it's clear we've exceeded its limits," theentrepreneur said.

Instead of taking value from nature and turning it into wealth, we are protecting it.

1% of the firm's yearly profits were donated to grassroots activists. In an open letter he said he wanted to do more.

He had considered selling the company and giving the money to charity.

Giving up control of the business would have been one option. He said that even public companies with good intentions are under too much pressure to create short-term gain.

The company has been taken over by two new entities by the Chouinard family. The family controls the company's controlling shareholder but will only own 2% of its total stock.

The Holdfast Collective is a US charity that is dedicated to fighting the environmental crisis and now owns 98% of the company.

The money we make after investing in the business will be used to fight the crisis.

In the past, entrepreneurs have given away their wealth. The boss of the Hut Group, which owns a range of online beauty and nutrition brands, donated £100 million to a charity after becoming a billionaire.

Matthew said he couldn't understand the numbers and was trying to make a difference.

Bill Gates made a $20 billion donation to his philanthropic fund in order to drop off the world's rich list.

The tech boss, who is thought to be worth $118 billion, pledged to give his wealth to charity in 2010, but his net worth has more than doubled since then.