After 24 years of marriage, Chip Wilson, the man who built Lululemon from scratch, and his wife Summer Wilson are calling it quits. There’s no prenuptial agreement between them, which means this split could turn into one of the biggest billionaire divorce cases in recent memory.
Let’s break down how Chip built his fortune, how it nearly vanished, and why this divorce could shake up more than just his personal life.
How Chip Wilson Became a Billionaire
Back in 2005, just three years after tying the knot, Chip sold 48% of Lululemon to a private equity firm for a hefty $92.8 million in cash. At that point, the entire company was worth around $193.3 million — a fraction of what it would eventually become.
Two years later, Lululemon went public. During the IPO, Chip cashed out 6.82 million shares for $114 million, which brought his ownership down to 38.2%. With shares priced at $18 each, the company’s total value jumped to roughly $1.24 billion. That left Chip holding a stake worth close to $475 million.
He wasn’t quite a billionaire yet — but he was getting close. By 2011, Lululemon’s market value had climbed to about $6 billion, and Chip’s remaining shares finally pushed him into billionaire status.
Over the next several years, Lululemon’s value swung between the low single-digit billions. Chip kept cashing in along the way too. In 2014, he sold another 13.85% of the company to Advent International for a massive $845 million.
Then, starting around 2018, everything changed.
The Wild Ride of Lululemon’s Stock
Being a public company hasn’t always been smooth sailing for Lululemon. The brand has weathered some major storms — including an embarrassing recall after customers noticed their yoga pants were see-through, leadership shakeups, backlash over comments from its founder, and fierce competition from rivals.
But from 2018 through the end of 2023, the stars seemed to align.
At the start of 2018, Lululemon shares were trading around $80. By December 29, 2023, that price had rocketed to an all-time high of $511.29 — a jump of more than six times in under six years.
This wasn’t just hype, either. The business itself was thriving.
Explosive Growth Across the Board
In 2018, Lululemon pulled in $3.3 billion in revenue. Just five years later, that number had nearly tripled to $9.6 billion. The brand smartly expanded beyond women’s yoga pants, branching into menswear, running gear, casual clothes and accessories, all while growing its presence internationally.
Back in 2019, CEO Calvin McDonald set some bold goals: double the men’s business, double digital sales, and quadruple international revenue. Impressively, Lululemon hit several of these targets years ahead of schedule.
Then COVID Changed Everything
For most clothing brands, a global pandemic that shuttered stores should have spelled disaster. But for Lululemon, it became an unexpected win.
With millions of people suddenly working and exercising from home, comfortable athletic wear became the go-to outfit for daily life — and Lululemon was perfectly positioned to cash in.
Online sales doubled in 2020 alone. Once physical stores reopened, growth kept accelerating. Revenue soared 42% in 2021 to $6.3 billion, then climbed further to $8.1 billion in 2022 and $9.6 billion in 2023.
By the close of 2023, Wall Street had stopped viewing Lululemon as a niche yoga label. Investors now saw it as a legitimate global contender capable of rivaling giants like Nike. At its peak, the company was valued at more than $60 billion.
For Chip, this was fantastic news. By early 2024, his net worth had ballooned to around $7 billion — nearly $4 billion higher than it had been in 2020, almost entirely thanks to Lululemon’s soaring stock.
But the good times wouldn’t last.
The Crash: Lululemon’s Fortunes Reverse
Starting in 2024, things began falling apart.
Growth in Lululemon’s core North American market slowed down. Shoppers grew tired of the same old products and started craving something fresh. Meanwhile, newer competitors like Alo Yoga and Vuori started eating into Lululemon’s market share. By 2026, even sales of the brand’s iconic leggings were dropping fast.
Naturally, the stock took a hit too.
From its record high of $511 at the end of 2023, Lululemon shares eventually crashed down to around $100. That’s a drop of more than 50% just since the start of 2026 — and roughly 80% below its all-time peak.
Even though Chip stepped away from running the company more than ten years ago, he’s remained one of its biggest shareholders and one of its harshest critics. He’s publicly criticized the company’s leadership, product decisions and board members, and even led a proxy battle that forced changes within Lululemon’s boardroom.
Luckily for Chip, he had already placed a massive bet outside of Lululemon — and it paid off big.
The Amer Sports Jackpot: A $3 Billion Bet
Back in 2019, Chip joined a group of investors that purchased Amer Sports, the Finnish sporting goods company behind well-known brands like Arc’teryx, Salomon, Wilson Sporting Goods, Atomic and Peak Performance.
He initially put in around €550 million. When Amer Sports returned to the stock market in 2024, Chip doubled down and invested another $324 million.
Today, entities tied to Chip own nearly 100 million shares of Amer Sports — about 18% of the entire company. At current prices, that stake alone is worth close to $3 billion.
Here’s the twist: Chip’s investment in the company behind Arc’teryx is now worth more than what’s left of his stake in the company he actually founded.
On top of that, Chip controls a sizable real estate empire through Low Tide Properties, which has poured more than $2 billion into buying and renovating properties, mostly around Vancouver and Seattle.
Combine everything — Amer Sports, his remaining Lululemon shares, real estate holdings, cash and other investments — and Chip Wilson’s current net worth lands at roughly $6 billion.
No Prenup: What This Means for the Divorce
Chip and Summer Wilson are officially ending their 24-year marriage. Court documents show a family-law case was filed in the Supreme Court of British Columbia back in April, though most details remain sealed from the public.
Here’s what we do know: there’s no prenuptial agreement protecting either party.
So does that mean Summer is entitled to half of Chip’s $3 billion Amer Sports stake? Not necessarily.
How British Columbia Law Handles This
Under British Columbia law, a person generally gets to keep the value of any property they owned before entering the relationship. That rule could shield whatever Chip’s Lululemon stake was worth back when he and Summer first got together.
But here’s the catch — any increase in that property’s value during the marriage is typically treated as shared family property, which means it could be up for division.
And when you look at the timeline, that’s a huge deal.
- Chip and Summer got married in 2002
- Lululemon was worth just $193 million in 2005 — three years after the wedding
- The 2007 IPO happened after they married
- The $845 million stock sale happened after they married
- The Amer Sports investment, now worth nearly $3 billion, happened after they married
- Low Tide Properties was founded after they married
On top of that, Summer wasn’t just a bystander during all of this. She was Lululemon’s founding lead designer and helped shape some of the products that made the brand famous in its early days.
So How Much Could Summer Actually Get?
That doesn’t automatically mean Summer walks away with half of everything Chip built. Untangling decades of stock sales, business deals, investment returns, real estate purchases and corporate structures will likely be a complicated legal process.
Still, with no prenup in place and the vast majority of Chip’s wealth built during their marriage, the numbers involved are staggering. However the assets eventually get divided, Summer’s final settlement could easily reach into the billions — making this one of the most significant billionaire divorces we’ve seen in years.
Final Thoughts
Chip Wilson’s journey from a small Vancouver yoga-wear startup to a multibillion-dollar empire is nothing short of remarkable — filled with soaring highs, brutal crashes, and one incredibly well-timed side investment that may have saved his fortune. But now, with his marriage ending and no prenup to fall back on, the next chapter of his story might be decided in a courtroom rather than a boardroom. Either way, this is a case worth watching closely.
