Ben Cohen: The Ben & Jerry’s co-founder who wants to break away from Unilever

Ben Cohen of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream is seeking to break away from Unilever, the conglomerate he sold out to in 2000. It’s a battle for the soul of the brand synonymous with corporate do-gooding.

Founders of Ben & Jerry's, Jerry Greenfield (left) and Ben Cohen at the 'One World One Heart Festival' in 1993
(Image credit: Barbara Alper/Getty Images)

Unilever’s decision to spin off its ice cream business marks the end of a fraught 25-year partnership with Ben & Jerry’s that must rank as “one of the corporate world’s most acrimonious relationships”, says The Wall Street Journal. Now Ben Cohen, who co-founded the business with Jerry Greenfield in 1978, wants to stop it being sold or floated along with other Unilever brands. His message to the conglomerate? “If you love us, let us go.”

Cohen’s buy-back bid – he is still trying to line up “like-minded investors” – is “a long shot”. Unilever has made it clear B&J is an essential component of its ice-cream bundle. Moreover, market carnage as a result of Donald Trump’s tariffs has put almost all deal-making on hold.

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Jane writes profiles for MoneyWeek and is city editor of The Week. A former British Society of Magazine Editors editor of the year, she cut her teeth in journalism editing The Daily Telegraph’s Letters page and writing gossip for the London Evening Standard – while contributing to a kaleidoscopic range of business magazines including Personnel Today, Edge, Microscope, Computing, PC Business World, and Business & Finance.

She has edited corporate publications for accountants BDO, business psychologists YSC Consulting, and the law firm Stephenson Harwood – also enjoying a stint as a researcher for the due diligence department of a global risk advisory firm.

Her sole book to date, Stay or Go? (2016), rehearsed the arguments on both sides of the EU referendum.

She lives in north London, has a degree in modern history from Trinity College, Oxford, and is currently learning to play the drums.