Ownership structure changes as Patagonia pledges to “protect the source”
Outdoor brand Patagonia has announced new ownership. Founder, Yvon Chouinard, who launched Patagonia almost 50 years ago, and his family have now transferred ownership of the company to two new entities, the Patagonia Purpose Trust and the Holdfast Collective.
These companies will invest all money that Patagonia makes from now on either back into the brand or into “dividends to protect the planet”.
Under the new set-up, the Patagonia Purpose Trust owns the voting stock of the company (2% of the total stock) and exists to create a more permanent legal structure to enshrine Patagonia’s purpose and values. It will help ensure that there is no “deviation from the intent of the founder” and to continue to demonstrate that “capitalism can work for the planet”.
For its part, the Holdfast Collective owns all the non-voting stock (the remaining 98% of the total stock). Profits that are not reinvested back into Patagonia’s business will pass as a dividend to the Holdfast Collective. Depending on the health of the business, projections are that this will amount to around $100 million per year.
The Holdfast Collective will use every dollar received from Patagonia “to protect nature and biodiversity, support thriving communities and fight the environmental crisis”.
Commenting on these changes, Yvon Chouinard said: “It’s been a half-century since we began our experiment in responsible business. If we have any hope of a thriving planet 50 years from now, it demands that all of us do all we can with the resources we have. As the business leader I never wanted to be, I am doing my part. 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. I am deadly serious about saving this planet.”
Patagonia will remain a B Corp and continue to give 1% of sales each year to grassroots activists.
Image: Yvon Chouinard reflects on almost half a century as the business leader he “never wanted to be”.
CREDIT: Campbell Brewer
