The founder of outdoor brand Patagonia has relinquished his ownership in the business and directed its profits to fight climate change.

Yvon Chouinard, who became famous for alpine climbs in Yosemite and then as a manufacturer of outdoor gear, has transferred his family's ownership of Patagonia to two new entities, including a nonprofit that will use the businesses' annual profits to fight climate change, the company said in a news release Wednesday.

"Instead of extracting value from nature and transforming it into wealth, we are using the wealth Patagonia creates to protect the source. We’re making Earth our only shareholder," Chouinard said in a news release.

In a letter to customers, Chouinard explained that Patagonia was now split into a trust that will determine the company's direction and a new nonprofit called the Holdfast Collective, which is dedicated to protecting nature and other environmental causes.

The company's leadership has not changed.

"While we’re doing our best to address the environmental crisis, it’s not enough," Chouinard wrote in the letter. "... Each year the money we make after reinvesting in the business will be distributed as a dividend to help fight the crisis."

The company expects to contribute about $100 million to the Holdfast Collective through an annual dividend and depending on the businesses' success.