Patagonia Owner Donates Company

On Wednesday 83 year old billionaire and founder of Patagonia Yvon Chouinard, and his family, who manage the company, announced that they would be giving 100% of their shares in Patagonia, worth an estimated 3 billion dollars, over to a non-profit organization dedicated to fighting the climate crisis. This means not only their 100 million dollars made a year will go towards fighting climate change, but the family says it ensures that the company will be run in a sustainable way, with promises of going carbon neutral and only using recycled materials by 2025.

In August the Chouinard's gave their 2 percent voting stock over to something called Patagonia Purpose trust while the other 98% went to a non-profit dedicated to fighting climate change called Holdfast Collective. The fashion industry is known for being awful towards the environment aiding in issues such as pollution, labor, and waste. So naturally having a sustainable brand that actually cares for the planet we live on is a gem.

The company released that it will still be reinvesting some money into its business. Despite being a giving company it’s still a for-profit company, so it’s still trying to grow as a business.

Although this is a very noble idea from the company, others say it’s just to get out of taxes and isn’t as kind as the company is being made out to be. Patagonia is the second company to do this this year, and is helping Yvon avoid $700 million dollars of tax bills. Mr. Edwards, a science teacher here at Palisade, said, “I feel that he’s not just trying to avoid taxes, but he really does care about the environment because his company Patagonia, is really based on creating their products using recycled materials which is very beneficial by getting rid of all our waste. I really feel that he is doing this to curb human causes of climate change.”

Whatever you think about why Yvon Chouinard decided to donate his company, I think we can all agree that it was a big decision that will go down in the history of the fight against climate change.