‘Orwellian’: Ben & Jerry’s founder tells CNBC he’s alarmed by Magnum’s board overhaul

Ben & Jerry's co-founder Ben Cohen has slammed genitor Magnum Ice Cream Company, saying it is "destroying" the brand, successful an interrogation with CNBC.

The world's largest standalone crystal pick business, Magnum, is lone a week aged but has already had a beingness of firm drama.

Ben & Jerry's CEO Jochanan Senf, appointed by Unilever, has said changes to the presumption of the board, including a nine-year word limit, mounting a committee cadence with "protocols connected engagement" and an work to comply with Magnum's codification of concern integrity, would fortify governance and transparency. 

Cohen, however, called it "Orwellian."

"They said that they're enhancing the societal ngo erstwhile they're really destroying it. They said that they're future-proofing the Board of Directors erstwhile they're really dismantling it," Cohen told CNBC. "It's different hopeless powerfulness grab."

By Monday, 3 directors had been ousted from the autarkic committee of Ben & Jerry's, successful a caller twist to the struggle betwixt the marque named aft its well-known founders and its genitor institution implicit the brand's societal mission. It's a enactment that recently listed Magnum inherited from user elephantine Unilever erstwhile it officially spun disconnected into an autarkic institution past week.

Ben & Jerry's latest determination to alteration its committee governance was intended "to sphere and heighten the brand's humanities societal ngo and safeguard its indispensable integrity," Ben & Jerry's said successful a press release.

Chair Anuradha Mittal — 1 of the committee members notified of their ineligibility — was told she "no longer meets the criteria to serve" arsenic a subordinate of the committee pursuing "internal investigations," the institution said, without giving further details.

"Initially, they were trying to get escaped of the president of the [independent] board, by making these unfounded allegations that she's 'not acceptable to serve'. They weren't capable to substantiate that, truthful present they're saying, well, she served for excessively long," Cohen said. "It's arbitrary, and it's illegal."

Ben & Jerry's was sold to Unilever successful 2000 successful a woody that allowed the marque to support an autarkic committee arsenic good arsenic the close to marque decisions connected its societal mission. Since 2021, however, increasing discontent by the committee arsenic good arsenic founders Cohen and Jerry Greenfield implicit what they telephone attempts to "silence" the societal mission.

Unilever, and present Magnum, retains superior work for each matters not relating to the societal ngo oregon matters expressly delegated to the Ben & Jerry's board, including fiscal and operational aspects.

CNBC has reached retired to Magnum and Unilever for comment. Unilever has said the societal ngo of Ben & Jerry's has strayed beyond what was agreed backmost successful 2000 and that the institution is posing worldly reputational and concern risks.

Not for sale

Unilever and Magnum person repeatedly said that Ben & Jerry's isn't for sale. 

Ben & Jerry's is 1 of the crystal pick group's 4 planetary powerfulness brands, alongside the Heartbrand, Magnum and Cornetto. In 2024, Ben & Jerry's brought successful 1.1 cardinal euros ($1.3 billion) to radical revenue, making it the 3rd largest gross generator among the group's portfolio of much than 100 brands. The 4 brands combined accounted for 82% of the group's full full-year revenue.

Unilever archetypal announced plans to rotation disconnected its crystal pick portion successful March past year. "We needed existent absorption connected crystal cream," Magnum CEO Peter ter Kulve told CNBC's Squawk connected the Street last week, highlighting however the institution is managing to turn some marketplace stock and volumes.

Since the axenic crystal pick banal debuted connected nationalist markets successful Amsterdam and New York connected Dec. 8, the banal has risen astir 10% and is present valued astatine astir 9 cardinal euros. The institution has acceptable a gross maturation people of betwixt 3% and 5% from 2026.

But Cohen, who inactive works astatine the brand, doesn't spot immoderate payment of the marque helium co-founded successful 1978 staying portion of the crystal pick group.

"They're being short-sighted, but I besides deliberation that they conscionable don't understand," helium said of management. "They don't recognize that the worth of Ben & Jerry's is tied up successful the presumption that it has established arsenic being successful the forefront of businesses that person a interest for the wide payment of the society, arsenic opposed to conscionable maximizing profits."

"Investors would beryllium a batch amended disconnected if Magnum yet sold this asset, which they are successful the process of devaluing, and alternatively took the wealth and bought immoderate different middle-of-the-road brands, due to the fact that that's what they're bully at," helium added. "There's a batch of wealth to beryllium made successful mediate of the roadworthy stuff, but they ought to instrumentality to their knitting and not effort to not effort to unit Ben & Jerry's to go conscionable different 1 of their mediate of the roadworthy brands."

In September, Cohen and Greenfield launched the campaign #FreeBenAndJerrys, calling for their genitor institution to let it to go "an independently owned institution with socially-aligned investors and erstwhile again escaped to grant its societal ngo and unrecorded by its marque values, without compromise."

The run is aimed astatine encouraging a radical of investors who judge successful the societal ngo to bargain the marque back.

"We person that group, they're ready," Cohen said, portion adding that Unilever and present Magnum garbage to divulge the indispensable fiscal accusation investors request to marque a rational offer. Cohen declined to sanction the investors. 

Unilever said successful its third-quarter net study that Ben & Jerry's grew mid-single digits, supported by the ongoing occurrence of recently launched innovations specified arsenic caller dairy, non-dairy flavours and Scoopapalooza, but didn't specify different fiscal accusation connected a brand-by-brand basis. 

Peace, emotion and crystal cream

Ben & Jerry's has a three-part mission: a societal mission, a merchandise mission, and a fiscal mission, which Cohen says are each arsenic important and interrelated. "It's thing that radical who are brought up successful the Unilever accepted strategy can't understand. It took america a agelong clip to fig it out… and they're conscionable trying to marque america into different portion of frozen mush."

"There's nary mode that Ben & Jerry's tin support the values that built it into the marque that it is contiguous without becoming owned by a radical of investors that really enactment the societal ngo alternatively of trying to destruct it," said Cohen astir the marque that has "peace, emotion and crystal cream" arsenic its slogan. 

Magnum CEO Ter Kulve told the Financial Times earlier this period that Cohen and Greenfield ought to "hand implicit to a caller generation."

But Cohen says it's not astir him arsenic an individual, but astir maintaining the values of the company. "Values don't get old," helium said.

"I person nary occupation handing implicit the institution to this radical of investors that enactment the values… and if Magnum really supported the societal mission, I'd person nary occupation with them doing it."