Patagonia
Earth as its only shareholder, From September 2022
We’re in business to save our home planet
Who owns Patagonia
On 14 September 2022 Patagonia’s founder, Yvon Chouinard, and his family gave the company away. All the voting shares went to a trust that guards its purpose and values, and all the other shares to a non-profit that fights the environmental crisis with the profits.
100%
The Chouinard family
All the stock. Yvon Chouinard founded Patagonia, and his family owned it.
Where the money goes
Sales
1% of sales each year to grassroots activists, as a founding member of 1% for the Planet.
Reinvested
Whatever the business needs.
Dividend to the Holdfast Collective
The rest. Patagonia expected roughly $100 million a year.
- 1% of sales each year to grassroots activists, as a founding member of 1% for the Planet.
- Reinvested. Whatever the business needs.
- Dividend to the Holdfast Collective. The rest. Patagonia expected roughly $100 million a year.
…we use the wealth Patagonia creates to protect the source.
The purpose is written into who owns the company.
A purpose statement can be rewritten by the next owner. Patagonia gave its votes to a trust whose job is to keep the purpose and values, so the purpose now depends on the ownership, not on who runs the company. Few companies can do this, but any company can write down what would have to change for its purpose to be dropped.
Every dollar of profit has somewhere to go.
Money the business needs is reinvested; the rest is paid as a dividend to the Holdfast Collective. We recommend stating where profit goes as plainly as where it comes from: it tells everyone in the company what the growth is for.
Five values, each a single sentence.
Each of Patagonia’s values is a word and one sentence, and most are instructions: build, examine, protect, be just. We recommend writing values as things people do, so they can be used to decide something.
Sources
- 1. Patagonia (2022). Patagonia’s next chapter: Earth is now our only shareholder. Patagonia Works press release, 14 September 2022. patagoniaworks.com
- 2. Patagonia (2026). Core values. Patagonia Australia, accessed 28 September 2026. patagonia.com.au
Headwater is not connected with Patagonia, Inc. Patagonia is a trade mark of its owner. Updated 28 September 2026.