NEW YORK, United States —
Instead, he, his wife and their two children agreed to transfer all of Patagonia’s voting shares, or stock that gives the holder voting rights, in the company to a trust in charge of ensuring the brand’s environmental values are respected. “Earth is now our only shareholder,” Chouinard wrote in an open letter posted to Patagonia’s website.
Founded almost 50 years ago, Patagonia quickly became committed to conserving nature, by carefully choosing its raw materials and donating one percent of its sales each year to environmental NGOs.One option was to sell Patagonia and donate the money. “But we couldn’t be sure a new owner would maintain our values or keep our team of people around the world employed,” he said in the letter.