On September 15, the outdoor clothing brand Patagonia announced via Twitter that they gave their company to planet Earth to help battle climate change.
A New York Times article was attached in the tweet, which according to it, the company’s founder Yvon Chouinard, his wife, and two adult children have transferred their ownership worth around $3 billion to a number of trusts and organizations.
Hey, friends, we just gave our company to planet Earth. OK, it’s more nuanced than that, but we’re closed today to celebrate this new plan to save our one and only home. We’ll be back online tomorrow.https://t.co/fvRFDgOzVZ
— Patagonia (@patagonia) September 14, 2022
This is to ensure that the future profits, amounting to about $100 million a year, will be used to battled climate change. In an interview with New York Times, the 83-year-old philanthropist expressed his hope that his generous act will inspire others to follow suit.
“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. We are going to give away the maximum amount of money to people who are actively working on saving this planet,” Chouinard stated.
He also admitted during the interview that being labeled a billionaire pissed him off saying,
“I was in Forbes magazine listed as a billionaire, which really, really pissed me off. I don’t have $1 billion in the bank. I don’t drive Lexuses.”
After, transferring his ownership of Patagonia, the environmentalist now feels at ease that the company is heading towards the right path.
“I didn’t know what to do with the company because I didn’t ever want a company. I didn’t want to be a businessman. Now I could die tomorrow, and the company is going to continue doing the right thing for the next 50 years, and I don’t have to be around,” he expressed.
What Chouinard did was truly inspiring. Here’s to hoping other billionaire businessmen out there follow suit to help save the Earth from climate change. 🙂
Source: uproxx.com
