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Hobby Lobby founder says he’s giving away his company because 'wealth is a curse’

Scott Gleeson, USA TODAY
·2 min read

Hobby Lobby founder David Green announced through an Oct. 21 op-ed at Fox News that he's giving up his company, and that he "chose God" over wealth.

Green credited his faith and higher power as the "true source" of his success, noting that "God was the true owner of my business," and felt that passing the company down to his children and grandchildren would've been the wrong move.

"As an owner, there are certain rights and responsibilities, including the right to sell the company and keep the profits for yourself and your family," Green wrote. "As our company grew, that idea began to bother me more and more. Well-meaning attorneys and accountants advised me to simply pass ownership down to my children and grandchildren. It didn’t seem fair to me that I might change or even ruin the future of grandchildren who had not even been born yet.

“When I realized that I was just a steward, it was easy to give away my ownership," added, Green, whose net worth is $14 billion according to Forbes.

The news comes after Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard gave up his company a month earlier as a means to fight the climate crisis.

Related: Patagonia founder gives company away, future profits aimed to help fight climate crisis

In a separate interview with Fox & Friends, Green said 100% of the company's voting stock has been moved to a trust. Separate details of how he's giving away the company were not revealed.

"Wealth can be a curse and, in most cases, if you drill down on it, wealth is a curse in terms of marriage, children, and things of that nature,” he said on Fox & Friends. "So we’re stewarding our company and, therefore, our children come to work, and they get what they earn."

Hobby Lobby has often been intermeshed with national religious news over the last few decades under Green, most recently during the pandemic in 2020 when he opted to leave stores open during COVID-19 risk because everything was "in God's control."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Hobby Lobby founder giving away company because 'wealth is a curse’