By Natasha Khan

Ben Cohen has a message for the corporate giant that bought his ice cream brand 25 years ago: If you love us, let us go.

The co-founder of Ben & Jerry's is trying to line up like-minded investors to buy the brand from Unilever as the European consumer giant prepares to spin off its ice cream assets. Either outcome -- an IPO of all of Unilever's ice cream brands, or a sale of Ben & Jerry's on its own -- would bring to an end one of the corporate world's most acrimonious relationships.

"In the year 2000, Unilever loved us for who we were," Cohen said. "Now we've gone separate ways in our relationship. We just need them to set us free."

Even as a breakup approaches, salvos between Ben & Jerry's independent board and the brand's parent company continue to fly: Lawsuits. Arguments over whether to criticize the Trump administration. Unilever's ouster of Ben & Jerry's CEO -- allegedly over the brand's social activism.

Much of the tension stems from the unusual acquisition agreement Unilever struck with Ben & Jerry's in 2000.

Cohen, who created Ben & Jerry's in 1978 with his friend Jerry Greenfield, said he was reluctant to sell when suitors circled the company for a takeover. But Unilever offered to structure a deal that allowed Ben & Jerry's to have an independent board that retained decision-making about its social mission and marketing. Under the deal, Ben & Jerry's owner can't fire its independent board. That agreement stands even in the event of a sale or spinoff.

"We spent a tremendous amount of time and energy working on that document and negotiating it," said Cohen, who is now 74 years old. "If not for that agreement, Ben & Jerry's would have died by now, and it would be just another ice cream brand."

The beginning of the end

Unilever says its relationship with Ben & Jerry's independent board began to unravel in 2021, when Ben & Jerry's halted sales of its products in Jewish settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and contested East Jerusalem, saying selling there was inconsistent with its values.

In a legal filing last month, Unilever said that decision led to severe consequences for the consumer giant: "Many states found Unilever to be in violation of their anti-boycott, divestment, and sanctions laws leading to multiple lawsuits in the United States and Israel, accusations of antisemitism, severe sanctions, and the divestment of hundreds of millions of dollars in Unilever's stock."

Unilever sold Ben & Jerry's business in Israel to its Israeli distributor, allowing sales of the ice-cream brand to continue throughout Israel and the West Bank. Ben & Jerry's then sued its own parent company, alleging that Unilever had violated the acquisition agreement that gave the brand primary responsibility over its social mission.

Unilever said that it had worked for more than two decades with the board to support the brand's social mission, but that in recent years Ben & Jerry's had sought to advocate for "one-sided, highly controversial, and polarizing topics" that put Unilever, Ben & Jerry's and their employees at risk.

Ben & Jerry's argues that social justice and human rights are core to its DNA, and that its customers remain loyal because of the brand's outspokenness on progressive issues.

"They knew what they were buying in 2000," Shahmeer Halepota, a lawyer for Ben & Jerry's independent board, said of Unilever. "It would be the equivalent of buying SeaWorld and complaining it's too wet."

In its latest lawsuit against Unilever, Ben & Jerry's says the brand planned to release a post this year on the day of President Trump's inauguration, listing policies that it believed the new administration would threaten, including the minimum wage and efforts to combat climate change. The president of Unilever's ice cream business barred Ben & Jerry's from issuing the statement, the lawsuit said.

"Despite four decades of progressive social activism -- and years of challenging the Trump administration's policies, criticizing Trump was now too taboo for the brand synonymous with 'Peace, Love, and Ice Cream, '" Ben & Jerry's said in the lawsuit.

Ouster of a CEO

The ice cream brand alleged in a March court filing that Unilever had breached the terms of its acquisition agreement by removing Ben & Jerry's Chief Executive David Stever without consulting the brand's independent board. Unilever said it had tried repeatedly to engage with the board to discuss the CEO's employment.

Cohen and Greenfield, who are no longer members of the board, wrote a letter to Ben & Jerry's employees supporting Stever. Cohen remains an employee of the company, and joined dozens of Ben & Jerry's staff in a walkout protesting Stever's ouster.

Unilever recently unveiled the name of its soon-to-be spun-off ice cream business. It won't be named after Ben & Jerry's, but rather Magnum, another brand in the group. Together, Unilever's ice cream brands last year generated 8.3 billion euros, equivalent to about $9 billion, in revenue.

Unilever says Ben & Jerry's is an important part of the ice cream business, and it isn't for sale as a stand-alone brand. Cohen acknowledged that his effort to find like-minded investors to back a purchase of Ben & Jerry's is a long shot.

"Ben & Jerry's is a company with a soul," Cohen said. "Business is the most powerful force in our society, and for that, it has responsibility to the society."

Write to Natasha Khan at natasha.khan@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 02, 2025 05:30 ET (09:30 GMT)

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