Lululemon founder and billionaire Chip Wilson is divorcing his spouse of greater than twenty years, Shannon Wilson, with no prenuptial settlement, New York Post reported. Wilson, 71, and Shannon, 52, married in 2002 and have been concerned in enterprise collectively for years. The couple has now filed household proceedings within the Supreme Court docket of British Columbia, with the instances first filed in April.
The divorce might have main monetary implications. Wilson’s fortune is estimated at round $6.1 billion, based on Bloomberg. He owns about 8.6% of Lululemon, a stake value near $1 billion, whereas Shannon holds roughly 1%, value about $100 million. Wilson’s largest single funding, nevertheless, is his practically 18% stake in Finnish sportswear firm Amer Sports activities, valued at nearly $3 billion.
The couple’s skilled relationship dates again to Lululemon’s early years. Wilson based the corporate in Vancouver in 1998 and is broadly credited with serving to set up the trendy athleisure market. Shannon was among the many model’s earliest staff and served as its founding lead designer. Wilson has beforehand credited her with taking part in a big function in constructing the corporate.
Each finally moved on from Lululemon. Shannon went on to co-found luxurious attire firm Package and Ace in 2014 along with her stepson JJ Wilson.
Chip Wilson stepped down as Lululemon’s chairman in 2013 following a sequence of controversies surrounding feedback he made in regards to the firm and its merchandise. He confronted widespread criticism after suggesting that some prospects’ our bodies had been liable for the sheerness of Lululemon’s yoga pants.
“Fairly frankly, some ladies’s our bodies simply truly do not work for [the pants],” he stated on the time.
In later years, he additionally criticised the corporate’s strategy to diversity and inclusion and argued that Lululemon had misplaced a few of its exclusivity after his departure. In a 2024 Forbes interview, he in contrast the model to Hole and stated it had tried to turn out to be all the pieces to everybody.
“I feel the definition of a model is that you simply’re not all the pieces to everyone. You have to be clear that you don’t need sure prospects coming in,” he added.
Regardless of not being concerned in Lululemon’s day-to-day operations, Wilson has remained an influential shareholder. In December 2025, he launched a proxy battle towards the corporate’s management, accusing executives of changing into complacent as gross sales weakened.
