The founder of outdoor retailer Patagonia, known for his environmental stances, announced on Wednesday that he has given away his company to do even more for the planet.
Yvon Chouinard, 83, could have sold the brand — valued at $3 billion, according to The New York Times — or taken it public.
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, to a trust in charge of ensuring the brand's environmental values are respected.
All of Patagonia's non-voting shares have been transferred to a non-profit organisation dedicated to fighting climate change and for nature protection and conservation.
Company profits will also be donated to that organisation.
"Earth is now our only shareholder," Mr Chouinard wrote in an open letter posted to Patagonia's website.
"I never wanted to be a businessman. I started as a craftsman, making climbing gear for my friends and myself, then got into apparel.
"As we began to witness the extent of global warming and ecological destruction, and our own contribution to it, Patagonia committed to using our company to change the way business was done."
Founded almost 50 years ago, Patagonia quickly became committed to conserving nature, by carefully choosing its raw materials and donating 1 per cent of its sales each year to environmental NGOs.
But Mr Chouinard has decided this is no longer enough.
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," Mr Chouinard said in the letter.
Taking the company public would have been a "disaster", he said.
"Even public companies with good intentions are under too much pressure to create short-term gain at the expense of long-term vitality and responsibility."
Patagonia will remain a company that cares about its financial health and will operate with a board of directors and chief executive.
The Chouinard family will no longer receive any money from the company but will stay on the board, and oversee the trust and guide the non-profit's philanthropic work.
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The Bio
Amal likes watching Japanese animation movies and Manga - her favourite is The Ancient Magus Bride
She is the eldest of 11 children, and has four brothers and six sisters.
Her dream is to meet with all of her friends online from around the world who supported her work throughout the years
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Tributes from the UAE's personal finance community
• Sebastien Aguilar, who heads SimplyFI.org, a non-profit community where people learn to invest Bogleheads’ style
“It is thanks to Jack Bogle’s work that this community exists and thanks to his work that many investors now get the full benefits of long term, buy and hold stock market investing.
Compared to the industry, investing using the common sense approach of a Boglehead saves a lot in costs and guarantees higher returns than the average actively managed fund over the long term.
From a personal perspective, learning how to invest using Bogle’s approach was a turning point in my life. I quickly realised there was no point chasing returns and paying expensive advisers or platforms. Once money is taken care off, you can work on what truly matters, such as family, relationships or other projects. I owe Jack Bogle for that.”
• Sam Instone, director of financial advisory firm AES International
"Thought to have saved investors over a trillion dollars, Jack Bogle’s ideas truly changed the way the world invests. Shaped by his own personal experiences, his philosophy and basic rules for investors challenged the status quo of a self-interested global industry and eventually prevailed. Loathed by many big companies and commission-driven salespeople, he has transformed the way well-informed investors and professional advisers make decisions."
• Demos Kyprianou, a board member of SimplyFI.org
"Jack Bogle for me was a rebel, a revolutionary who changed the industry and gave the little guy like me, a chance. He was also a mentor who inspired me to take the leap and take control of my own finances."
• Steve Cronin, founder of DeadSimpleSaving.com
"Obsessed with reducing fees, Jack Bogle structured Vanguard to be owned by its clients – that way the priority would be fee minimisation for clients rather than profit maximisation for the company.
His real gift to us has been the ability to invest in the stock market (buy and hold for the long term) rather than be forced to speculate (try to make profits in the shorter term) or even worse have others speculate on our behalf.
Bogle has given countless investors the ability to get on with their life while growing their wealth in the background as fast as possible. The Financial Independence movement would barely exist without this."
• Zach Holz, who blogs about financial independence at The Happiest Teacher
"Jack Bogle was one of the greatest forces for wealth democratisation the world has ever seen. He allowed people a way to be free from the parasitical "financial advisers" whose only real concern are the fat fees they get from selling you over-complicated "products" that have caused millions of people all around the world real harm.”
• Tuan Phan, a board member of SimplyFI.org
"In an industry that’s synonymous with greed, Jack Bogle was a lone wolf, swimming against the tide. When others were incentivised to enrich themselves, he stood by the ‘fiduciary’ standard – something that is badly needed in the financial industry of the UAE."
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Jul 3- 14, in the Netherlands
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UAE squad
Humaira Tasneem (captain), Chamani Seneviratne, Subha Srinivasan, Neha Sharma, Kavisha Kumari, Judit Cleetus, Chaya Mughal, Roopa Nagraj, Heena Hotchandani, Namita D’Souza, Ishani Senevirathne, Esha Oza, Nisha Ali, Udeni Kuruppuarachchi
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Man of the Match: Andros Townsend (Crystal Palace)
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Akeed
Based: Muscat
Launch year: 2018
Number of employees: 40
Sector: Online food delivery
Funding: Raised $3.2m since inception
