Ben & Jerry’s co-founder Ben Cohen has accused parent company Unilever of attempting to dilute the powers of the Ben & Jerry’s Independent Board and “deliberately rewrite history”.
The comments come after new Magnum’s pre-IPO filings in the US appeared to play down the board’s authority over areas including the ice cream brand’s social mission, powers Cohen says were explicitly protected when the business was sold.
In a statement shared with the media, Cohen said the filings represent “a deliberate attempt to rewrite history”, arguing that Unilever and Magnum are “eroding those protections from within”.
Cohen said: “This is a deliberate attempt to rewrite history and strip the Ben & Jerry’s Independent Board of the legal authority it was guaranteed.”
“When Ben and Jerry’s was sold in 2000, Jerry and I fought successfully to enshrine in the merger agreement that the Independent Board would have primary responsibility for safeguarding the quality of our product, brand marketing, licensing and use of the trademark, in addition to the social mission, in perpetuity,” he said.
“Now Unileverare eroding t hose protections from within.”
You could have bet on this happening! Big business meets passion and care. Money is always the winner.
