Patagonia founder gives company away, ensuring profits go to fight climate change, NBC News reports

Yvon Chouinard, who became famous for alpine climbs in Yosemite and then as a manufacturer of outdoor gear, said in a note: “We’re making Earth our only shareholder.”

FILE - A Patagonia store in Pittsburgh is seen, Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File) (Gene J. Puskar, Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

The founder of the outdoor brand Patagonia has relinquished his ownership in the business and directed its profits to fight climate change.

Yvon Chouinard, who became famous for alpine climbs in Yosemite National Park and then as a manufacturer of outdoor gear, has transferred his family’s ownership of Patagonia to two new entities, one of them a nonprofit organization that will use the businesses’ annual profits to fight climate change, the company said in a news release Wednesday.

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“Instead of extracting value from nature and transforming it into wealth, we are using the wealth Patagonia creates to protect the source. We’re making Earth our only shareholder,” Chouinard, 83, said in the news release.

Read the full story on nbcnews.com.


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