Patagonia Founder Yves Chouinard Didn't Want To Be A Billionaire, So He Gave His Entire Company To Environmental Nonprofits

Patagonia, the famous outdoor apparel company, has restructured itself in a new and revolutionary way. Instead of becoming a publicly traded company, Patagonia will transfer ownership to an environmental nonprofit and trust, meaning that going forward, all of its profits will go to fighting climate change.

"Earth is now our only shareholder." pic.twitter.com/XGJYhGSoLp

— Patricia Hines (@PJHines) September 14, 2022

The decision, made by founder Yves Chouinard along with his board and family, places 98 percent of Patagonia’s stonks in the hands of the Holdfast Collective, an environmental organization. Those shares are also non-voting, which means they don’t give Holdfast Collective decision-making authority.

The remaining 2 percent of voting shares will go to the Patagonia Purpose Trust, set up to protect the company’s values and make business decisions. It’s a new kind of setup that Chouinard hopes will inspire other companies and wealthy individuals to do similar things.

Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard is giving away the company. He and his family have transferred all the company’s voting stock into a trust, with the rest of the shares going to a nonprofit.

Here's the letter from Yvon: pic.twitter.com/gPUxcuRItN

— Kim Bhasin (@KimBhasin) September 14, 2022

Reportedly, Chouinard’s reasoning for transferring Patagonia’s ownership is because of his inclusion on Forbes Magazine’s "Billionaire List." Chouinard apparently did not like being identified as a billionaire and wanted to immediately rectify the situation.

Patagonia founder Yves Chouinard gave away his $3B company in part because he ended up on a Forbes Billionaire list. pic.twitter.com/wlEQr01lQV

— Trung Phan (@TrungTPhan) September 15, 2022

Memers online, including one of the environmental nonprofits benefiting from the Patagonia money, joked about Cousin Greg from the HBO show Succession -- a character whose uncle follows a similar path by giving away his inheritance.

the Patagonia heirs today pic.twitter.com/MDo6oPW57Y

— Jessica Blankenship (@blanketboat) September 14, 2022

just leaving this here pic.twitter.com/TBVaztHIWP

— Greenbelt Alliance (@gbeltalliance) September 14, 2022

Many joked about the response of the private equity industry and other capitalists who are unlikely to make the same decision as Chouinard. In particular, many wondered how finance bros who wear Patagonia as a key part of their wardrobe would handle the news.

Every finance bro who can’t wear a Patagonia vest anymore because the company decided to pursue a strategy that goes against every cell of their body: pic.twitter.com/MwolRwPn5V

— IB (@ma_associate) September 15, 2022

Private Equity bros after seeing ownership of Patagonia donated to charity instead of being sold for a $3B valuation: pic.twitter.com/PzgNyS551G

— High Yield Harry (@HighyieldHarry) September 14, 2022

The entire private equity industry coming together to convince a bunch of non-profits to sell ownership of Patagonia to them: pic.twitter.com/359×244oXX

— High Yield Harry (@HighyieldHarry) September 14, 2022

Others were skeptical of Patagonia’s move, wondering if it was a tax dodge and pointing out the company’s complicity in other alleged excesses of capitalism.

It’s a bit of a tax dodge masquerading as good PR.

Not saying it’s a bad thing. Certain Trust & foundation structures allow you to take money you’d be paying in taxes & direct it to more efficient non-profits & avoid paying for the military industrial complex.

— Nick Mortensen (@nickmortensen) September 15, 2022

Man of the people!

— Trung Phan (@TrungTPhan) September 15, 2022

In general, the company’s move seemed to receive a warm reception from many, with numerous internet users seeing it as a hopeful sign that capitalism may change the way it operates in response to the era-defining threat of climate change.