Marmite: love it or sell it?

Marmite maker Unilever picked a fight with supermarket giant Tesco. Its shares were the loser, says Ben Judge

Marmite maker Unilever picked a fight with supermarket giant Tesco. Its shares were the loser, says Ben Judge.

The headlines were full of Tesco's shock removal of Marmite and other Unilever products from its online shopping site last week. Casting itself against type, Tesco played the part of the little guy squeezed by its suppliers, protesting against Unilever's price rise of 10% across the board. In its defence, Unilever blamed increased costs sparked by the tumbling pound.

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Ben Judge

Ben studied modern languages at London University's Queen Mary College. After dabbling unhappily in local government finance for a while, he went to work for The Scotsman newspaper in Edinburgh. The launch of the paper's website, scotsman.com, in the early years of the dotcom craze, saw Ben move online to manage the Business and Motors channels before becoming deputy editor with responsibility for all aspects of online production for The Scotsman, Scotland on Sunday and the Edinburgh Evening News websites, along with the papers' Edinburgh Festivals website.

Ben joined MoneyWeek as website editor in 2008, just as the Great Financial Crisis was brewing. He has written extensively for the website and magazine, with a particular emphasis on alternative finance and fintech, including blockchain and bitcoin. 

As an early adopter of bitcoin, Ben bought when the price was under $200, but went on to spend it all on foolish fripperies.