Company Owner Turns Down $400 Million And Gives it to Charity Instead

Grady-White owner Eddie Smith was inspired by Yvon Chouinard, the founder of Patagonia, and has handed control of Grady-White to a “purpose trust.”

Credit: University of North Carolina

Back in 1968, Eddie Smith Jr. bought a fledgling boat maker based in Greenville, North Carolina. It was a risky move. The company, Grady-White Boats, was in trouble. But Mr. Smith turned it around, and now the maker of high-end recreational fishing boats designed for coastal waters pulls in hundreds of millions of dollars in annual revenue, reports The New York Times.

Indeed, under his leadership, the company has become the world’s premier builder of outboard powered sport fishing boats ranging from 18 - 45 feet. Along the way, Mr. Smith kept full control of the company, never taking on outside investors or selling stock to the public.

Now, Mr. Smith has made one last big move: He renounced a potential $400 million payday and pledged all of Grady-White’s future profits to charity. “God has really blessed me to put me in a position to give away the vast majority of my net worth. I don’t need a 200-foot yacht or to spend the winters in the Mediterranean. I’m really happy here in eastern North Carolina.”

Grady-White will distribute tens of millions in annual profits not reinvested in the company to the nonprofit organization, which will give the money away to causes including conservation, health care and education.

He said he was inspired by Yvon Chouinard, the founder of Patagonia, who gave away his stock and set up a nonprofit organization to distribute the outdoor apparel company’s profits in 2022, setting a New Gold Standard in Climate Philanthropy aimed at helping fight climate change.