Ben & Jerry to Unilever: This is not the Ben & Jerry’s that we founded

By Jordan Valinsky, CNN

New York (CNN) — Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, the cofounders of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, are fighting with the company’s parents about the independence of the brand they created nearly 50 years ago.

The pair, which no longer controls the company they created, wrote an open letter Tuesday addressed to the Magnum Ice Cream Company board, which is being spun off from Unilever. The letter asked that Ben & Jerry’s itself be spun off to operate independently, following several disputes over the years about its views on several issues, including criticism of President Donald Trump’s policies and Israel’s war in Gaza.

Cohen and Greenfield wrote that when they sold the ice cream brand to Unilever in 2000, Ben & Jerry’s was given the freedom to pursue its social mission, but Unilever has eroded that freedom over the past two-and-a-half decades.

“For several years now the voice of Ben & Jerry’s has been silenced by Unilever, particularly when the brand has tried to speak out about social justice and unjust wars,” the pair wrote. “That is not the Ben & Jerry’s that we founded, or the one that we envisioned when we agreed to join Unilever 25 years ago.”

Unilever last year announced the spinoff of Magnum, which would include Ben & Jerry’s. The pair said that since Magnum still will retain a relationship with Unilever, Ben & Jerry’s should be released so it can operate as a progressive-led company.

“For these reasons, we urge the board to allow Ben & Jerry’s to operate once again as an independently owned company, supported by socially-aligned investors and free to honor its mission without compromise,” they said.

The open letter was posted on a website with the URL, freebenandjerrys.com.

In response, Unilever said that Ben & Jerry’s is a “proud part” of the Magnum Ice Cream Company and is not for sale.

“We remain committed to Ben & Jerry’s unique three-part mission – product, economic and social – and look forward to building on its success as an iconic, much-loved business,” an Unilever spokesperson said.

The Magnum Ice Cream Company will be the world’s largest ice cream conglomerate and expects to be publicly listed in mid-November, the company announced Tuesday.

Frigid relations

For at least the past four years, Ben & Jerry’s and Unilever have been embroiled in a series of public disputes.

In March, Ben & Jerry’s accused Unilever of breaching its merger agreement by ousting the ice cream company’s CEO for the brand’s repeated public comments on progressive issues, removing its chief executive without the board’s approval.

In an amended complaint, lawyers for the ice cream brand said that its 2000 merger agreement “protects Ben & Jerry’s interests by precluding the unilateral removal of its CEO,” but Unilever did just that — removing and replacing CEO David Stever without following proper protocols.

Unilever previously responded that it was in acted properly and conducted a good faith conversation with Ben & Jerry’s board about removing its CEO.

In January, the company alleged that Unilever prevented Ben & Jerry’s from posting references to abortion, climate change and universal healthcare, because they mentioned President Donald Trump.

In 2021, Ben & Jerry’s stopped selling ice cream in occupied Palestinian territories, saying it’s inconsistent with the values of the socially conscious brand. It later sold its Israeli business.

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