The founder and previous owner of outdoor company Patagonia Yvon Chouinard has donated his company to charitable foundations. He wants to make his assets available for environmental protection - especially for measures to combat climate change.

The 83-year-old, who is also a pioneer in big wall climbing, and his wife and two children have agreed to a transfer of all voting shares in the company to a foundation that aims to ensure that the company's ecological values ​​are respected. All other shares also go to an environmental protection organization, which will also benefit from the company's profits in the future.

"Earth is now our only shareholder," Chouinard wrote in an open letter published on Patagonia's website Wednesday. "We had to find a way to put more money into fighting this crisis while keeping the company's values ​​intact."

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 through specially created 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.