Patagonia's founder gave the company away
Earth is now the only shareholder.
Yvon Chouinard began by forging climbing pitons in a Burbank tin shed. Sixty years later, rather than take Patagonia public or sell to a competitor, he restructured the company so that every dollar of profit not reinvested in the business would go toward protecting the natural world. "Earth is now our only shareholder," he wrote. The transfer was worth roughly three billion dollars.
Editor's Note
The most radical business decision of the decade was also the quietest.
