Patagonia Billionaire Who Gave Up Company Skirts $700 Million Tax Hit

Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard described his decision to give away the outdoor apparel-maker as his last-ditch effort to do all he could to protect the planet. The deal is structured in ways that also bring the billionaire other perks, by letting him and his family keep control of Patagonia while shielding them from tax bills that could have totaled hundreds of millions of dollars.

By donating most of the company, which is valued at $3 billion according to the New York Times, Chouinard is at the fore of a small-but-growing movement among the ultra-wealthy to use nonprofits to exert political influence long past their lifetimes.

Chouinard, 83, transferred 98% of Patagonia shares to Holdfast Collective, a nonprofit that will deploy its roughly $100 million in annual profits “to fighting the environmental crisis and defending nature,” according to a statement Wednesday. He moved all of his family’s voting stock, equal to 2% of its total shares, to an entity called the Patagonia Purpose Trust.