The Ice Cream Giant's Co-founder Jerry Greenfield Steps Down, Claiming Unilever Muzzled Activist Vision
The Vermont-based ice cream maker's co-creator Jerry Greenfield has stepped away from the beloved brand after almost five decades, according to a message from his business partner Ben Cohen.
The announcement shared what he described as a message from Greenfield, in which the exiting executive called it one of the “hardest and most painful decisions” of his career.
Greenfield stated that the company had been restrained by Unilever and that its autonomy to speak out on global issues was now “gone.”
“Unless the business was willing to advocate for the values we cared about, then it no longer deserved to exist as a company at all,” he said.
This move came despite a merger agreement meant to safeguard the company’s ethical commitments, Greenfield added.
“This autonomy was preserved in no small part because of the special merger agreement” which both founders had arranged with the conglomerate, Greenfield explained.
The ice cream maker and Unilever declined to comment to a request for comment from the news agency.
Recently, Cohen said that amid ongoing tensions with Unilever, the firm had tried to arrange a transfer to investors at a reasonable price of $1.5bn–$2.5bn, but the proposal was turned down.
The multinational and the ice cream brand have been at odds since at least recent years, when the ice-cream maker announced it would stop selling in the contested West Bank. Ben & Jerry’s has also taken legal action against its owner over alleged attempts to restrain it and has referred to the situation in Gaza “genocide.”
