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.
But perhaps the growing ideological divide in corporate America will work in Cohen’s favour. “Even as a break-up approaches, salvos between Ben & Jerry’s independent board and the parent company continue to fly” – over Gaza, the brand’s “social mission” and “whether to criticise the Trump administration”. There was a big brouhaha last month when Unilever ousted chief executive David Stever, a B&J lifer, for his alleged “activism”, notes the BBC. The Ben & Jerry’s board is suing. It’s also fighting a separate suit defending its right to take on Trumpism. Inheriting this legally messy situation is a big ask for any buyer.
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When Ben and Jerry, who met at school in Long Island, first opened their doors in May 1978 in a converted gas station in South Burlington, Vermont, they weren’t planning to become “major leaders in super premium ice cream” or social activists, says Time. The main motive was to make some cash. Both founders were 27. “Cohen wasn’t having much luck selling his pottery, and Greenfield had been rejected by medical schools.”
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They started the business with $4,000 each and another $4,000 from a bank loan, choosing Burlington because of its large student population. The initial plan was to open a bagel shop, but the machinery costs were too high, so they learned how to make ice cream instead. Sales soared. Ben & Jerry’s combined “intensely flavoured, chunky and creative ice creams” with funky-named flavours such as Cherry Garcia, Whirled Peace and Wavy Gravy – packaged in cartons showing “a picture of the two bespectacled bushy-haired owners” looking like “refugees from a sixties commune”. The combination of wholesome wackiness and delicious natural ingredients tapped a nerve. In just a decade, sales hit $3.6 million.
The battle for Ben & Jerry’s “soul”: what will Ben Cohen do?
“The story of Ben & Jerry’s is a legend in two acts,” noted the Stanford Social Innovation Review in 2012. In Act One, the company was “a kind of corporate hippie” – “fair to employees, easy on the environment and kind to its cows”. In Act Two, set in 2000, the mood soured. The founders were accused of selling the company’s soul when they gave in to Unilever’s $326 million offer. Cohen, now 74, believed the strict terms of the sale – which provided for a fully independent board, retaining decision-making over its social mission and marketing – were the brand’s saviour. “If not for that agreement, Ben & Jerry’s would have died by now.”
But the structure was also a recipe for long-running spats, says the WSJ, which erupted into public view in 2021 when Ben & Jerry’s halted sales of its products in Jewish settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank in protest at the treatment of Palestinians. Unilever, which claimed to have lost millions of dollars in value as a result of the row, later sold the local business to its Israeli distributor – prompting the first of many lawsuits. That began a battle for Ben & Jerry’s “soul”, which has now resurfaced in sales negotiations. “Business is the most powerful force in our society, and for that, it has responsibility to the society,” says Cohen. Don’t expect him to back down without a fight.
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