The Founder Of Patagonia Is Giving The Company Away So That All The Profits Go Toward Fighting Climate Change

The founder of the outdoor clothing company Patagonia announced Wednesday that he is giving away the company and transferring it to a specially designed trust so its profits will be used to fight the climate crisis.

In a statement released on Wednesday, Yvon Chouinard, 83, said that rather than “going public,” the company is “going purpose.” The news was first reported by the New York Times.

“Instead of extracting value from nature and transforming it into wealth for investors, we’ll use the wealth Patagonia creates to protect the source of all wealth,” the statement reads.

The trust, named the Patagonia Purpose Trust, will hold all the company’s voting shares. The nonvoting stock “will be given to the Holdfast Collective, a nonprofit dedicated to fighting the environmental crisis and defending nature,” per the statement.