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Ben & Jerry’s will be destroyed as a brand if it remains with parent company Magnum, the company’s co-founder Ben Cohen has told the BBC. <\/p>\n
His remarks are the latest in a long-running spat between the ice cream brand and its parent company over its ability to express its social activism and the continued independence of its board. <\/p>\n
On Monday the Magnum Ice Cream Company (TMICC) started trading on the European stock market – spinning off from owner Unilever. <\/p>\n
A spokesperson for Magnum said the firm wanted to build and strengthen Ben & Jerry’s “powerful, non-partisan values-based position in the world”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Ben & Jerry’s was sold to Unilever in 2000 in a deal which allowed it to retain an independent board and the right to make decisions about its social mission.<\/p>\n
Since the sale there have been deepening clashes between the Vermont-based brand and Unilever, with this conflict now inherited by Magnum. <\/p>\n
In 2021, Ben & Jerry’s refused to sell its products in areas occupied by Israel<\/a>, resulting in its Israeli operation being sold by Unilever to a local licensee, and in October, Ben Cohen said it was prevented from launching an ice cream which expressed “solidarity with Palestine”<\/a>.<\/p>\n Last month, ahead of its spin off from Unilever, Magnum said the chair of Ben & Jerry’s board Anuradha Mittal, who has held the position since 2018, “no longer meets the criteria to serve” – saying this was the result of an internal audit. <\/p>\n A spokesperson for Magnum said it had found “a series of material deficiencies in financial controls, governance and other compliance policies, including conflicts of interest”.<\/p>\n “So far, the trustees have not fully addressed the deficiencies identified,” they said.<\/p>\n In a statement to Reuters, Ms Mittal said: “The so-called audit of the foundation was a manufactured inquiry – engineered to attempt to discredit me.<\/p>\n “It is important to understand that this is not simply an attack on me as chair. It is Unilever’s attempt to undermine the authority of the Board itself.”<\/p>\n The BBC has contacted Ben & Jerry’s to request this statement.<\/p>\n Mr Cohen said Magnum “has no standing to determine who the chair of the independent board should be”. <\/p>\n “Therefore, by trying to [change the chair of the board], I would say that Magnum is not fit to own Ben & Jerry’s,” he added.<\/p>\n Mr Cohen called for either the business to be “owned by a group of investors that support the brand and want to encourage the values” or for Magnum to make a “180 degree turn around and say they support the chairman of the independent board”.<\/p>\n Ahead of the spin off on Monday, news agency Reuters reported that Ms Mittal said she had no plans to step down from the board. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Ben Cohen remains an employee of Ben & Jerry’s and the brand’s most high-profile spokesperson. <\/p>\n He told the BBC he feared under the current ownership the ice cream maker’s “loyal” followers would be lost for good.<\/p>\n “If the company continues to be owned by Magnum, not only will the values be lost, but the essence of the brand will be lost,” he said.<\/p>\n On Sunday, Magnum’s chief executive Peter ter Kulve told the Financial Times<\/a> the Ben & Jerry’s founders were in their seventies and “at a certain moment they need to hand over to a new generation”.<\/p>\n Jerry Greenfield, Mr Cohen’s co-founder, left the ice cream maker in September after almost half a century at the firm – citing concerns about the stifling of its social mission<\/a>. <\/p>\n “It’s absurd,” said Mr Cohen. <\/p>\n “This is about values and abiding by a legally binding agreement.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Mr Cohen added investors in Magnum were being asked to pay a premium for the Ben & Jerry’s brand “because it has such a loyal following”.<\/p>\n “As they destroy Ben and Jerry’s values, they will destroy that following and they will destroy that brand,” he said. <\/p>\n “It’ll become just another piece of frozen mush that just going to lose a lot of market share.”<\/p>\n A spokesperson for Magnum said Ben & Jerry’s was “not for sale” and it had “always respected” the brand’s commitment to continue its “social mission”.<\/p>\n The demerger of Unilever’s ice cream business saw primary shares in Magnum open at \u20ac12.20 (\u00a310.66) – down on the expected \u20ac12.80 (\u00a311.18) reference price set by the EuroNext exchange in Amsterdam. But it bounced back up by 1.3% at close of trading.<\/p>\n The spin off means Magnum is now the world’s biggest standalone ice cream business.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n