The Vermont-based ice cream maker's co-founder Jerry Greenfield has parted ways from the beloved brand after almost five decades, as stated by a message from his fellow founder Ben Cohen.
The announcement shared what he called a letter from Greenfield, in which the departing co-founder called it one of the “hardest and most painful decisions” of his life.
Greenfield asserted that the organization had been restrained by its corporate owner and that its autonomy to address global issues was now “lost.”
“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,” Greenfield wrote.
This move came even after a merger agreement meant to protect the brand’s social mission, Greenfield added.
“This autonomy was preserved largely because of the special acquisition terms” which both founders had negotiated with Unilever, Greenfield explained.
The ice cream maker and Unilever did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.
Last week, Cohen revealed that amid disagreements with Unilever, the firm had attempted to engineer a sale to investors at a fair market value of $1.5bn–$2.5bn, but the offer was rejected.
Unilever and Ben & Jerry’s have been at odds since at least 2021, when the company said it would halt sales in the contested West Bank. Ben & Jerry’s has also sued its owner over accusations to restrain it and has called the situation in Gaza “genocide.”