Patagonia creator gave away the company to fight climate change

Half a century after founding Patagonia, Yvon Chouinard, the eccentric rock climber who became a reluctant New England billionaire, has given away the outdoor apparel company. Mr. Chouinard and his family transferred their ownership of the ~$3 billion business to a specially designed trust and a nonprofit organization to preserve the company’s independence and ensure that all of its profits – some $100 million a year – are devoted to fighting climate change and protecting the planet. Chouinard’s unprecedented move as a business leader has come at a time of growing scrutiny for billionaires and corporations that speak about trying to make the world a better place while contributing to the very problems they claim to want to solve.