The founder of Patagonia was so furious that he reached the status of billionaire that he gave his company $ 3 billion

However, for Yvon Chouinard, the founder of the outdoor clothing company Patagonia, highlighted as a member of the Ultrawealth was “one of the worst days of his life”.

“It really annoyed me,” he said after being placed Forbes List of 2017 billionaire, according to extracts from Dirtbag billionaire: How Yvon Chouinard built Patagonia, made a fortune and gave everything by David Gelles.

“I don’t have $ 1 billion at the bank. You know, I don’t drive the lexus. ”

Cliinard for life, Chouinard spent years sleeping in his car or on earth floors in the desert, surviving with only $ 1 per day and even eating durable cans of cat food. This disjointed existence makes its billionaire stage all the more remarkable, in particular as a pioneer of the world of climbing.

However, the 86 -year -old man did not think that being a billionaire was something to boast. Instead, he considered it a “policy failure” because of the growing fracture between the rich and the poor and asked its staff to remove it from the list, but selling the company of $ 3 billion or that the public was outside the table.

How the founder of Patagonia took his name from the richest list in the world

The sale of the company would make the chouinard from rich in assets to billions of dollars in the bank, which defeats the objective of the financial year.

And he refused the IPO. “I do not respect the stock market at all,” said Chouinard according to the new book of Gelles. “Once you are public, you have lost control of the business and you must maximize the shareholder’s profits. You lose all control, then you become one of these irresponsible companies.”

Thus, in 2022, Chouinard and his family decided to transfer their property to Patagonia to a trust and a non -profit organization which assured that the $ 100 million in the company’s profits were used to combat climate change and protect unlikely land.

“I hope this will influence a new form of capitalism that is not found with a few rich and a bunch of poor,” said Chouinard The New York Times at the time of the announcement. “We are going to give the maximum money amount to people who actively work to save this planet.”

And although the move was also a way to avoid paying important taxes by letting Patagonia move to the chouinard heirs, he said that it was the ideal solution to escape the billionaire status.

Four new billionaires are struck each week

Chouinard is not alone in his feelings that the inequality of wealth is an increasing concern. More than a quarter of American adults to political affiliations say that it is a bad thing that some people have a personal fortune of a billion dollars or more, according to Pew Research Center.

And while a majority of Americans, 55%, remain carefree, many billionaires have taken on them to give their masses of wealth. In 2010, Warren Buffett as well as Bill and Melinda French Gates created the commitment of donations, a commitment to give 50% of their wealth to philanthropy during their life.

According to the Institute for Policy Studations, it is estimated that $ 206 billion was given by the original promises, but the majority of money was devoted to private foundations, according to the Institute for Policy Studies. Less than 4% of signatories followed on the pact.

Meanwhile, billionaire wealth continues to increase considerably; The billionaire’s growth increased three times faster in 2024 compared to the previous year – equivalent to an average of almost four new billionaires per week, Oxfam estimates. In the United States only, the billionaire wealth increased by $ 1.4 billion in 2024, with 74 more people by becoming billionaires.

Only this year, Larry Ellison’s net value has climbed $ 175 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire index. And although he briefly exceeded Elon Musk as the richest person in the world, the CEO of Tesla and Spacex recovered his lead with a net value of $ 440 billion.

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