The founder and previous owner of outdoor company Patagonia, Yvon Chouinard, has donated his company to charitable foundations. The 83-year-old wants to make his assets available for environmental protection - especially for measures to combat climate change. "We had to find a way to put more money into fighting this crisis while keeping the company's assets intact," Chouinard said in a statement released on the Patagonia website on Wednesday (local time).

According to The New York Times, Patagonia's goodwill is approximately $3.0 billion. All profits - according to the report about 100 million dollars a year - that are not reinvested in the company are to be used in the future via specially established foundations for the fight against global warming and for nature conservation. "Hopefully this will influence a new form of capitalism that doesn't end up with a few rich people and a bunch of poor people," Chouinard told the newspaper.