Sell the Company for $400 Million? He's Giving It Away Instead.

Eddie Smith, owner of Grady-White Boats, is using his company’s future cash flow to support charity instead of pursuing a reported $400 million payday. After his sole heir died, the 83-year-old backed a legacy plan inspired by Patagonia’s Yvon Chouinard, pledging all of Grady-White’s future profits to charitable causes. Smith has led the high-end recreational fishing boat maker since buying a struggling Greenville, North Carolina business in 1968, later building annual revenue in the hundreds of millions while keeping full control. He also avoided outside investors and never sold stock publicly. The move comes as some billionaires and giving-focused models are shifting away from pledges, while new wealth grows elsewhere.