Give him liberty, or just give him his darn company back. Ben Cohen, he of Ben & Jerry's fame, is mincing no words with his company's owner, Unilever. "In the year 2000, Unilever loved us for who we were," Cohen says. "Now we've gone separate ways in our relationship. We just need them to set us free." As the Wall Street Journal reports, the relationship between Cohen and co-founder Jerry Greenfield and their overlord is one of "the corporate world's most acrimonious relationships," and Cohen sees an opportunity since Unilever announced its intention to spin off all its ice cream brands. The 74-year-old is trying to line up investors to buy back the company he and Greenfield started in 1978.
At the crux of the angst between Ben & Jerry's and Unilever seems to be Cohen and Greenfield's dogged dedication to loud-and-proud activism, which led Unilever to sell off the Ben & Jerry's business in Israel after the company announced it wouldn't sell its products there over the war in Gaza. Ben & Jerry's sued Unilever. The two have similarly bickered over whether to criticize the Trump administration: Unilever blocked an Inauguration Day statement, and the ice cream maker again sued in response. "They knew what they were buying in 2000," says a lawyer for Ben & Jerry's independent board. "It would be the equivalent of buying SeaWorld and complaining it's too wet."
As it spins off its ice cream business, Unilever announced recently that the consortium would be named not after the iconic Vermont brand, but rather another of its brands, Magnum. Unilever also says it's not selling Ben & Jerry's separately, which dampens Cohen's plans to drum up investors, but not his enthusiasm. "Ben & Jerry's is a company with a soul," he says. (More Ben & Jerry's stories.)
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