Tim Boyle, Billionaire CEO of Columbia Sportswear has thrown a once-in-a-lifetime challenge titled Expedition Impossible at flat-Earth believers to locate the mythical“edge of the Earth” and bring back photographic proof of the abyss they believe lies beyond.

Boyle, whose fortune stands at a staggering $1.6 billion, said that anyone capable of delivering this“world-shattering discovery” would claim control of his $3 billion family empire, founded in 1938. In the campaign video, Boyle strolls through Columbia's Oregon headquarters, teasing that the winner would inherit everything from“conference rooms” to“coffee machines.”

“This message is for flat Earthers. You guys claim there's an end to the Earth. Well, just go snap a picture, send it to us, and you get the assets of the company. All of it. No paperwork, no lawyers, no catches,” Boyle announced.

Hey #ufotwitter #expeditionimpossible #flatearthers Columbia Sportswear CEO Tim Boyle just dropped a challenge to find the edge of FLAT Earth!! Find it and win ALL ASSETS of his company!! twitter/ZLuDvWxMwT

- greenbudha (@greenbudha) December 2, 2025

Is Earth flat?

For over 2,000 years, humanity has known the Earth to be round - a fact buttressed by centuries of observations, from ships vanishing over the horizon to Earth's circular shadow cast upon the moon. More recently, photographs from satellites and spacecraft have sealed the truth in spectacular clarity.

Yet, die-hard flat-Earthers continue to reject this evidence as fabrication or trickery. Their movement dates back to Samuel Rowbotham's 1849 pseudoscientific work Zetetic Astronomy, which claimed Earth was a flat disc. His ideas birthed the Zetetic Society and later inspired groups like the Universal Zetetic Society, fueling modern conspiratorial distrust of institutions like NASA and global scientific bodies.

Boyle, heir to a brand that began as the Columbia Hat Company after his grandparents emigrated from Germany, insists he's serious but with a twist. A man posing as Boyle's lawyer pops up in the ad to reveal the fine print: Columbia has created a separate entity called“The Company, LLC,” with assets valued at $100,000. Still a tidy sum, if not quite the sportswear empire.

To prevent contestants from gaming the challenge, Columbia clarified what counts as the“edge of the Earth”: a photo of a visible, physical end - whether a sheer drop into infinity, a void, or clouds stretching endlessly. But no, a cliff edge, a cul-de-sac, or“your buddy Dave legally changing his name to 'The Edge'” won't make the cut.

“Hey, flat Earthers, do me a favor. If you're going to the edge of the Earth, wear Columbia. You'll need it. Best of luck,” Boyle adds with a wink.

Experts, meanwhile, continue to bust misconceptions. Dr. Ian Whittaker of Nottingham Trent University explained that humans cannot see Earth's curvature from ground level due to limited horizon distance.“As an analogy, you look at a basketball and see the full curvature because you are massive compared to it,” he said.“Now imagine a microbe on the surface... It would just be a vast expanse of flat area because its height compared to the curvature of the ball is tiny.”

Fresh footage captured in April by civilian astronauts aboard SpaceX's Fram2 mission reignited the debate. The video, showing Earth's unmistakable curvature from orbit, set social media ablaze and flat-Earthers fuming.

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