Ben & Jerry’s co-founder Ben Cohen has accused Magnum Ice Cream Company of utilizing “Orwellian” techniques to oust board members and muzzle the model’s social mission – which has included support of Palestinians amid the battle in Gaza.
Unilever – which acquired Ben & Jerry’s in 2000 and agreed to preserve its impartial board – last week spun off its ice cream manufacturers, including Ben & Jerry’s, into a separate company identified as Magnum.
Ben & Jerry’s CEO Jochanan Senf, who was appointed by Unilever, up to date the board’s phrases and added a nine-year restrict, successfully pushing out three administrators and arguing it would improve governance and transparency.
Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield co-founded Ben & Jerry’s in Vermont in 1978. Getty Images for MoveOn
But Cohen – who co-founded the lefty ice cream model with Jerry Greenfield in 1978 – said this protection of the board adjustments was “Orwellian.”
“They said that they’re enhancing the social mission when they’re actually destroying it. They said that they’re future-proofing the Board of Directors when they’re actually dismantling it,” Cohen instructed CNBC during an interview, calling it a “desperate power grab.”
A Magnum spokesperson instructed The Post that the board adjustments “aim to preserve and enhance the brand’s historical social mission and safeguard its essential integrity.”
Unilever did not immediately reply to The Post’s requests for remark.
As half of the new time period restrict, Anuradha Mittal, who joined the board in 2007 and served as chair since 2018, was ousted – which Magnum said took place following “internal investigations.”
“Initially, they were trying to get rid of the chairman of the [independent] board, by making these unfounded allegations that she’s ‘not fit to serve’. They weren’t able to substantiate that, so now they’re saying, well, she served for too long,” Cohen instructed CNBC. “It’s arbitrary, and it’s illegal.”
Cohen, who still works for Ben & Jerry’s, said he doesn’t see any worth in the Magnum spin-off, which consists of Ben & Jerry’s, Heartbrand, Magnum and Cornetto and debuted on public markets in Amsterdam and New York last week.
Unilever – which acquired Ben & Jerry’s in 2000 – last week spun off its ice cream unit into a separate company. Adriana – stock.adobe.com
“They don’t understand that the value of Ben & Jerry’s is tied up in the position that it has established as being in the forefront of businesses that have a concern for the overall benefit of the society, as opposed to just maximizing profits,” Cohen said of management.
Ben & Jerry’s raked in roughly $1.3 billion in income in 2024, making it the third-largest income generator out of the group’s more than 100 manufacturers.
But Cohen argued buyers would be much higher off if Magnum bought off Ben & Jerry’s, took the money and “bought some other middle-of-the-road brands, because that’s what they’re good at.”
“There’s a lot of money to be made in middle of the road stuff, but they ought to stick to their knitting and not try to not try to force Ben & Jerry’s to become just another one of their middle of the road brands,” he continued.
Unilever and Magnum have repeatedly said Ben & Jerry’s is not for sale – but Cohen and Greenfield have been main a #FreeBenAndJerrys marketing campaign urging the company to promote the model to a group of buyers who would honor its social mission.
It’s the newest in a drawn-out battle between the model’s liberal co-founders and its dad or mum company – beginning in 2021 when Ben & Jerry’s announced it would finish gross sales in the Israel-occupied West Bank.
Unilever responded by promoting off the company’s license for the area.
Ben Cohen (proper), who still works for Ben & Jerry’s, said he doesn’t see any worth in the Magnum spin-off. Getty Images for MoveOn
In November 2024, impartial board members filed a lawsuit accusing Unilever of gagging Ben & Jerry’s from talking out in support of Palestinian refugees.
In a court submitting, the board also accused Unilever of abruptly firing Ben & Jerry’s CEO David Stever without giving board members a likelihood to interview substitute candidates.
Cohen instructed CNBC there is a group of buyers “ready” to buy Ben & Jerry’s. He accused Unilever and Magnum of refusing to disclose the obligatory financial data to make a correct offer.
A Magnum spokesperson instructed The Post that it “remains unequivocally committed to Ben & Jerry’s three-part mission.”
But Cohen said the mission is “something that people who are brought up in the Unilever traditional system can’t understand.”
“It took us a long time to figure it out…and they’re just trying to make us into another piece of frozen mush,” Cohen added.
Magnum CEO Peter ter Kulve instructed the Financial Times earlier this month that Cohen and Greenfield should “hand over to a new generation” – but Cohen said the sale is not about him.
“I have no problem handing over the company to this group of investors that support the values… and if Magnum actually supported the social mission, I’d have no problem with them doing it,” he instructed CNBC.