This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . The next check for changes will be

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/sep/17/ben-jerrys-co-founder-jerry-greenfield-quits-saying-unilever-silenced-social-mission

The article has changed 6 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 1 Version 2
Ben & Jerry’s co-founder Jerry Greenfield quits accusing Unilever of silencing social mission Ben & Jerry’s co-founder quits accusing Unilever of silencing social mission
(about 3 hours later)
After nearly 50 years, Greenfield says he cannot ‘in good conscience’ continue; Unilever has previously rejected similar claims by Ben & Jerry’s social mission board Jerry Greenfield says he cannot ‘in good conscience’ continue and says company has lost its independence
Ben & Jerry’s co-founder Jerry Greenfield has stepped away from the ice-cream brand after nearly 50 years, according to a post by the other founder, Ben Cohen. The Ben & Jerry’s co-founder Jerry Greenfield has stepped away from the ice-cream brand after nearly 50 years, claiming it has lost its independence and accusing its parent company, Unilever, of having “silenced” its social mission.
Cohen’s post shared what he said was a letter from Greenfield in which he called it one of the “hardest and most painful decisions” he had ever made. Greenfield said in a letter posted by his co-founder, Ben Cohen, that he could no longer “in good conscience” remain an employee of a business that he argued had been muzzled by the UK-listed Unilever, despite an agreement protecting its social mission when it was taken over in 2000.
Greenfield accused Unilever of silencing the company, saying its independence to speak up on global issues was “gone”. “It is profoundly disappointing to come to the conclusion that that independence, the very basis of our sale to Unilever, is gone,” he said. “If the company couldn’t stand up for the things we believed, then it wasn’t worth being a company at all.”
“If the company couldn’t stand up for the things we believed, then it wasn’t worth being a company at all,” Greenfield said. Greenfield, who along with Cohen has no control over operations but had remained an employee to help maintain its founding social mission, called it one of the “hardest and most painful decisions” he had ever made.
The decision came despite a merger agreement meant to safeguard the brand’s social mission, Greenfield added. Greenfield’s resignation is the latest development in a bitter dispute since Unilever backtracked on an agreement allowing Ben & Jerry’s to not sell ice-cream in occupied Palestinian territories, which had been heavily criticised in Israel.
“That independence existed in no small part because of the unique merger agreement” that he and Cohen had negotiated with Unilever, Greenfield wrote. Unilever subsequently sold Ben & Jerry’s Israel division to a local operation, prompting the ice-cream maker to sue its parent company before reaching a settlement in 2022.
The Magnum Ice Cream Company, a new division of Unilever that is set to be separately listed in November, said that it disagrees with Greenfield’s perspective and has sought to engage both co-founders in a constructive conversation on how to strengthen Ben & Jerry’s powerful values-based position in the world. Last year, Ben & Jerry’s launched a legal action against Unilever, accusing it of threatening to dismantle the board and sue directors over their public statements in support of Palestinians in Gaza.
Ben & Jerry’s and Unilever did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters. The letter comes as Unilever prepares to spin out its ice-cream division, Magnum Ice Cream Company (TMICC), which also includes Wall’s, with a main listing in Amsterdam and secondary listings in London and New York.
Last week, Cohen said that amid tension with Unilever, the brand had attempted to engineer a sale to investors at a fair market value of $1.5bn-$2.5bn but the proposal was rejected. Before the new business’s first capital markets day last week, Cohen and Greenfield published an open letter to the board and potential investors calling for the brand to be “released”.
Unilever and Ben & Jerry’s have been at odds since at least 2021 when the ice-cream maker said it would stop selling in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Ben & Jerry’s has sued its owner over alleged attempts to silence it and called the conflict in Gaza “genocide”. The letter also argued that Unilever’s move to dismantle Ben & Jerry’s social mission had devalued the business.
At the time a Unilever spokesperson said: “Our heart goes out to all victims of the tragic events in the Middle East. We reject the claims made by B&J’s social mission board, and we will defend our case very strongly. We would not comment further on this legal matter.” Sign up to Business Today
With Reuters Get set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning
after newsletter promotion
Cohen and Greenfield have been looking for investors to help them buy the brand back, but Unilever has insisted it is not for sale. Cohen said that amid tension with Unilever, the brand had tried to engineer a sale to investors at a fair market value of $1.5bn-$2.5bn but the proposal was rejected.
“The problem is that Unilever and Magnum don’t want to sell, so they are not allowing any of these potential investors see the financials,” said Cohen.
A spokesperson for TMICC said it would be “forever grateful” to Jerry for his role co-founding the company, but that the business “disagreed with his perspective” and had sought to engage both co-founders in a “constructive conversation” on how to strengthen the brand.