Is this really a critical moment in the history of capitalism, as Patagonia believe?
Patagonia, the clothing, equipment, surfboard and food retailer, is certainly unique in our extreme sporting world. Founded by French-Canadian rock climber Yvon Chouinard in 1973, the brand’s mission has long been “earth friendly.” While not appealing to all, the notable Derek Rielly bemoaning the company’s “ritual use of dull browns, the lingering smell of piety, the full silhouettes suited to the fashionably retarded,” Patagonia certainly does spark conversation and especially when, in 2022, “Earth” became its only shareholder.
Now in a must-listen three part series, the erudite Matt Barr of the popular Looking Sideways podcast has taken a deep dive in The Announcement.
“Going purpose, not going public.”
Patagonia’s September 2022 decisions to make ‘Earth’ the company’s only shareholder was huge news, particularly in the worlds of climate activism, business, philanthropy, the outdoors, and action sports.
Here was the most influential company in the outdoor world, and one of the most influential businesses on the planet per se, relinquishing control of their profits for the greater good.
But what did this actually mean? Why did the company do it? How was the decision made? Who was involved?
And is this really a critical moment in the history of capitalism, as Patagonia believe?
Come enjoy part one here.
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have experienced tossing chum off the rail…and climbed mt mckinley. no patagonia gear…trade u 5 sand dabs for the boots (recyclable) and some ice (conserve for future ag use). and a bottle of advil~
You are all missing the real story here, not of Eevon and his merry pranksters, but that of the Tyler Breuer voice-over in the Podcast. This is just Chas and his cabal of the Surf Splendor Network industrial complex, pushing their agenda and propaganda to take over the surf world.
The whole restructuring was much more about avoiding heavy inheritance tax penalties than Saving the Earth – other companies have used the same restructuring methods to benefit their causes, this cause happens to be better than most.
now that’s total BS , as Yvonn has given so much of his money away……I have know him personally for about 35 years……drives shit old cars /has never travelled business class, same as his son and daughter…….they live a very frugal life compared to most of us!
any invites to the right point?
always!!
Ummmmm – read my comment again, Maurice. I said NOTHING about Yvon’s lifestyle, which in many ways is anti-corporate in the extreme and thus very admirable –
I DID say the restructuring was more about avoiding massive inheritance taxes, which many people with education and knowledge of philanthropy and estate planning completely agree –
https://www.coleschotz.com/…
“Chouinard avoided the capital gains tax that would be triggered if he sold the company. And he removed the value of the Patagonia stock from his estate, saving an estimated $1.2 billion of estate tax (interestingly, a death transfer to a 501(c)(4) organization is subject to estate tax but a transfer during life is not subject to gift tax)”
That’s the whole point –
Try reading before commenting – thanks!
not his lifestyle but his moral integrity was questioned……the tax issue is only a side issue…..about 4 years ago Yvonn wanted to decrease turnover by 25%…….as Patagonia was getting way too big , and it’s recorded that Yvonne read in Forbes mag he was a billionaire…..so he wanted to work out a way where Patagonia could keep growing, make big profits and keep giving more back……so he gave up the Co……so the whole tax thing is just a 1%er
Set that wanka Rasta up for life though.
I fell asleep when I heard the word “Patagonia”.
beach clean-up day reminder is tomorrow cause its also the opening of the bikepath. a 10 year battle that Patagonia (LOST. and STALLED. ONE PERCENTERS) NO E_BIKES.
Where’s that fucking artificial reef I was promised ? I say we…
re-building el porto for the ozenpics. buy hair gel…razors. and wooden keggers~viking ships to enter the COliseyum~
made w/ KS’s burritos? surfrider sued chevron to build such near hammerland & el porto…turned to sand?
best thread of ’25…stop. how much to go? stop~
Eventually yvon will realise that the unabomber was right. I wonder if he’ll finally get there and close his company down?
Patagucci… puffy jacket and a cup of coffee , standard surf check atire for wankers globally
For every Patagonia garment you own you get an extra % of white privilege.
Owners of Patagonia a wetsuit automatic additional 50% WP.
Socks your mom bought you at the outlet and gave to you for Christmas deduct 10% WP.
If you are BIPOC and have mostly whit friends this still counts for you(bonus double privilege).
There is a rule in my house- NO Patagonia is allowed to be worn by a family member. So I guess, we have no white privilege. BUT since I possess the black friends badge does that count for some white privilege?
Of course!
I could rail against one of his ambassadors. that cunt from South Africa and his ten commandments for surfing…shawn was not accepted by the locals butt…
excellent.
I hope the Earth opens up a massive sinkhole under every Patagonia store and consumes it’s shares.
so sick of these VSBS con artists.
You seem to get upset at things that makes most people smile or brings them some joy. So upset that you’re feeling ill, and calling for divine intervention from Gaia.
Try not to let it bother you, mate. It’s really quite nothing.
not at all.
I’m just sick of companies and orgs using BS made up garbage like climate change as a tax shelter.
There are many people out there that would benefit from Patagonia’s charitable contribution(s)…..but they give it to…The Earth.
they sure don’t mind the cheap labor:
To produce their clothes:
Patagonia uses sixty-one suitable factories: two in the US, one in Portugal and the remainder in 12 different low-wage countries. The bulk of the products are made in Vietnam and Sri Lanka.
Do you think many people in VN or SL wear Patagonia, or SE Asia in general?
Nope, so how much fuel do you think Patagonia is burning shipping their products to their stores and customers all over The Earth?
Unfortunately climate change is real even if you don’t want it to be real.
drill baby, drill!
I work on an oil rig.
“Safety First…” Was a compliance director for 4 years w/ True Oil (formerly BSI, VTA) purchased the LA Las CIenagas field, Hacienda Heights Sansinena, and White petro in Santa Paula. have been on two of the offshore platforms in Santa Barb channel. dealing w/ public was pure vitriol!
Did I see you lurking around the Sees’s factory during that time?
making honeycomb boards that are edible w/ chocolate coverin
My favorite
yep, been real for tens of thousands of years.
Millions.
The issue is always (or should be) “are humans causing it?” not “but but plants like CO2”.
There’s some crack pots out there who want to argue that there is no such thing as the greenhouse effect, but that’s easily proven by lab experiment.
Uh, how could humans be causing it if it’s been naturally occurring over tens of thousands of years?
Do you mean contributing? there is no evidence that man is causing or having any effect on the climate, unless you believe in cloud seeding.
nice dipsy doo flip-a-roo with the green house effect thing.
The main gases responsible for the greenhouse effect include carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and water vapor, which are all naturally occurring.
I love how you guys go from one existential dread to another:
60’s Cold War
over population
Hippies
70’s global cooling. threat of another ice age
there will be no more oil in 10 years.
Jimmy Carter
80’s green house gas affect. we’re all gonna die from the suns radiation.
no more oil in 10 years
90’s Global Warming and the threat of Y2K
House music/Raves
2000’s Global Warming
melting polar ice caps.
New York will be under water in 10 years
all the polar bears are going extinct
2010-now existential climate change:
we’re all gonna die within 12 years
Taylor Swift
lions and tigers and bears……oh my.
hi HC , well back for a short stay…..couldn’t resist your comments on climate change…
So about 99 % of climate scientists believe by increasing the CO2 content in the atmosphere has an affect on our Climate . We are experiencing a fast tracking of climate change as the Temp of the planet exceeds 1.5 degrees from elevated levels of carbon, well we are now starting to experience big changes in out weather……
It’s not the end of the world , just another fast change of climate , which will affect our food supplies and make them a lot more expensive…then of course the is sea level rise….yes I know ol donny boy said 1/4 ” of sea level rise in the next 400 years………but in any other world but donnys…..we are seeing 1/4″ a year …in some places more and some places less…..
if I had known all it would take is a global warming comment to bring you back, would have been posting them all week.
glad to see you back, Mo. How ya’ feeling?
Fact is there have been many periods of extreme and accelerated periods of global warming. pretty common actually.
BTW- the actual Trump comment was:
Trump said at a Friday rally in Virginia that “global warming is fine,” rejecting the view of the overwhelming majority of scientists.
And he said of Biden: “He said it again last night, that global warming is an existential threat. And I say that the thing that’s an existential threat is not global warming, where the ocean will rise – maybe, it may go down, also –but it may rise one eighth of an inch in the next 497 years, they say. One eighth.” He added what appeared to be a joke: “Which gives you a little bit more waterfront property if you’re lucky enough though.”
Humans are natural
Internal combustion engines are not.
How so?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that’s all great etc… What I really want to know, is the top ten Patagonia garments that bridge the gap for the fashion anxious, from beach to to Subaru to office?
with love…
Hey! I’ve got a Subaru Forester. And a Patagonia hood I picked up for $50 on a 50% off sale. Keeps me ears warm in this freezing fucking Japanese winter.
Don’t mock me. I have enough anxiety as it is with my kids mocking me in Japanese slang!
Long time, stranger. Hope you’re well!
I was doing well until the family contemplated moving back to Oz. Looked up prices of used equivalent Subaru Foresters floating round the Goldy – almost more fucking expensive than our one was brand new. And they’ve 100,000kms on the clock!
I’ll put my current one on my mid-length single and paddle it across the Pacific before I fucking pay that for a used car with 100k clicks on the clock. Fuck me!
In other news, perfectly happy. Sometimes wear my Patagonia hood to bed. Naked.
I’m currently living in my forester. Thanks.
ha , that’s what I drive…15yr old forester…..great car!
Has anyone asked “what are the capital gains and estate tax benefits?”
At a high level you escape cap gains in perpetuity and the estate tax exemption threshold isn’t a factor after transferring 98% of Patagonia stock in a 501(c)(4). And of course the remaining 2% which represents 100% of the voting shares were placed in a separate trust so the family will continue to control the company.
Are there future income tax benefits here as well?
There are no taxes on the gain in share value of Patagonia shares within the 501(c)(4) but you cannot take profits out of the 501(c)(4). you can pay salaries and 401k contributions to employees. And some 501(c)(4) entities have bene known to abuse this paying rather large salaries to underserving family employees and Board Members.
a loophole that needs to be closed.
BUT it is for the earth bro!
From what I’ve read the horse has already bolted.
The idea that a more equitable, or more liberal or more progressive time for humanity is coming anytime in the next 20 years is a laugh. It would likely take another conflict and fuck load of deaths (again) for the current power brokers to change the course of the last 40 years. Loopholes will not be closed. The opposite is much more likely.
Does the 501(c)(4)’s 98% ownership have any impact on Patagonia’s corporate income taxes going forward?
IF I understand correctly and I haven’t looked at the exact structure of the donation, BUT I believe they donated 98% of Patagonia shares(non-voting and dividend paying) to the 501(c)(4) while 2%(the voting shares and non-dividend paying) went to a separate entity. So Patagonia is now owned by and under a non-profit and they won’t pay taxes on their profits as they under the umbrella of a non-profit.
This kind of talk is making me horny 💦
why don’t you come over to my place and we can talk derivatives?
use the back door.
Back door derivatives conversations make me so hot
ooh la la.
let’s you, Gil and I get together for a little financial planning discussion.
I’ll wear my 3 piece Brooks Brothers pin stripe……and chaps.
Skip the Brooks Bros suit and just wear the chaps and I’ll regale you two with stories of derivative swaps and the always sexy synthetic equity swaps.
Thought hippies had to?
https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
gimme (tax) shelter…
It is surf adjacent
If i were to trust a stranger from the internet with my life savings, you’d probably be that person.
To trust a poster on BG is dangerous as you never know who is behind the nom de plume. BUT in this case, you’d be ok as long as you love listening to me wax poetically about revocable and irrevocable trust construct and why you place certain assets inside of these trusts and why you don’t set up revocable trusts for irresponsible adults.
when Yvon passes, the holding company automaticaly goes irrevocable. see them in probate court?
No as the entity goes on I perpetuity
as spoken by a sure smug~
Smug would have included questioning your choice in tequila and the lack of shrooms to wash down the tequila
paraquat the fuck otta them. mexico. 40 years later/radon, fine single dining…STOP!
We’re lucky to be alive after buying all of those 4 finger bags laced with paraquat and other pesticides
and Vikings~
we kimosabi? heeded the govt warning and sampled other available intoxicants: afgan hash, oil, thai sticks, colombian, panama red, lebanese, etc. and of course, cocaine! meth is a hell of a working drug…
Some might assume that there was a time when you stuck your finger in a bag of Thai stick and it would stick to your finger due to the heavy sticky bud factor.
Well, it was a close call between you, and that nigerian prince who keeps emailing me for help to pay off legal expenses in order to unlock a massive inheritance, which he promised to share.
The Nigerian prince offer is hard to pass up. I say go with his offer!
deferring payloads. kinda like da dodgers. will need to replace some of the money men. ask The Donald~
Patagonia are more preachy than the Catholic Church!
They have something to say. You can do like I did for the first 35 years of my life and just flip the page. Nowadays, I enjoy reading what they have to say. If that ever changes, then I too will flip the page and move on to …….whoever you think doesn’t have a lot to say.
10 hail marys and 10 our fathers. in confession: “Father I do not know what I’ve done…love my earthly father though.”
The tag line “We are in the business of saving our home planet” is the most untrue statement. They are in the business of making well made long lasting clothing for the outdoor lifestyle and to do that they make new color ways of life time warranted product in hopes to sell more to make more. I’m a fan of their product but not the green washing. Honesty wins. They have much to brag about in their marketing without being untrue.
And yes it is boring and smells of piety…..
Their biggest brag is providing cute vests to young Wall Street analysts who just want to fit in by wearing the required uniform
and coming in second in the EAST. Oh and the second best inflation vest.
Are you a Celtics or a Cavs fan?
would that be the OG Rajon era before PGs needed jumpshots and PFs could just throw their weight around and play 40 minutes even if they had bricks for hands? Or the post death lineup / D Morey evolution where everything is a step back 3 and you play 5 out but your star can’t get off the bench in the Olympics??
*p.s. go Cavs in honor of all the times their hearts were cut out by 23
I’m a fan of Lebron James going back to Cleveland and the Celtics old parquet floors but I’m a Lakers fan if that’s what you are asking?
Cooper Cupp & Puka Nacua
https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
look here Mr. Van Driessen, if I downvoted comments I would downvote you, but I don’t, so I won’t.
“Yes, the planet got destroyed. But for a beautiful moment in time we had lots of upvotes, and some downvotes, as shareholders.”
“my carbon footprint has been reduced over the ages. I wear mocassins.”
“Tear down the Father Sierra statue in front of the VTA City Hall.”
Good job Patagonians!
Patagonia employees responsible for that?
i exxagerate. no general consensus hurt. 30 years ago I was doing nearly the same thing and climbing redwoods…good neighbors
Spiking redwoods, I probably help fund that with a donation back in the day.
pardon me?
Earth Firsts equivalent of tearing down Father Sierra’s statue 30 years ago.
humboldt st (now cal poly h) in 75…stood w/ protesters but didn’t say peep. but that chick butterfly…high in the treetop.
and the hispanic chapter of Cal St. Channel Islands. on the campus of the former Camarillo Mental Hospital. look up ME(CH)A.
What the fuck ever, it’s all about the money, Yvon’s just another tax-avoider.
P.S.
Derek’s right about their dullness and smell of piety.
P.P.S.
Goodness knows who’s gonna watch one interview with this boringly righteous old kook, let alone three of the bloody things…
Bingo. 100% designed to avoid the inheritance tax. This is little more than creative estate planning.
WHOA, should I be surprised another BGer knows about the 501(c)(4), aka C-4s estate planning tactic?
Chouinard is a bad man for trying to cover up how much future revenue he and his heirs will receive in perpetuity while trying to sound altruistic and earth friendly.
Giddy up!
It’s called marketing
Haven’t they given up the 98% of the dividend-bearing shares to a trust where they cannot access it? How would this make sense to do that if they only prioritised their financial gain ?
Great point and I should have further clarified the ability to abuse the trust construct to pay salaries, make 401k contributions and provide outrageous travel benefits all in the name of good to family members who are employed by the trust and/or sit on the Board of the trust.
In a light most favorable to Patagonia, the tax bill here would be in the 100’s of millions. Choinard’s kids probably can’t afford that without selling part of the company. This ownership scheme allows the company to stay under the control of the Choinard family and allow them to push ideas like lower consumption/repair your stuff that shareholders may not like because they believe it hurts sales.
What if the tax money funds war
I’d be more interested in learning about how they’ll break into the younger demographic of the chronically online, genderless youth. They’re not so keen on dressing like a cafe enthusiast hiker. And their social credit scores through “spreading awareness” supersedes the piousness of Patagonia!
I’ll be tuning in. He was pretty hard to listen to for the Surfer’s Journal interview with Brisick as he’s fairly old. But I’ll give him another chance.
Think people judge Chouinard against some form of perfection. Never heard him say that the company was perfect. In fact he always says quite the opposite.
no comment. his secondary residence is three houses down. and i live in a van on the rincon parkway.