Ben & Jerry’s Sues Parent Unilever Over Firing of the Former’s CEO
In the latest tiff between the two, Ben & Jerry’s filed a lawsuit in a New York court on March 18 accusing its parent Unilever of firing the ice cream company’s CEO David Stever because of Ben & Jerry’s increasingly vocal social mission and Stever’s support for it.
Unilever told the Vermont company on March 3 it was removing Stever. Ben & Jerry's claimed that was done without consulting Ben & Jerry’s independent board of directors because of Stever’s commitment to the ice cream maker's social stands, not because of his job performance.
Stever, a B&J employee of 36 years, started at Ben & Jerry’s as a tour guide in 1988, became chief marketing officer and was named CEO in 2023.
Ben & Jerry’s is a public benefit corporation, which legally requires it to maintain a social mission. Throughout its history has taken social/political stances, and Unilever agreed to respect that when it acquired the company from Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield in 2000. B&J maintains its own board of directors.
The relationship became strained and went to court when, in 2021, B&J stopped selling ice cream in Israeli-occupied territory in the Middle East, in support of Palestinian people and in protest of Israel’s building of settlements. Unilever at first tried to force Ben & Jerry’s to resume sales but in the end the European parent sold the rights for B&J ice cream in that region to an Israeli distributor.
After a year or so of détente, this January, Ben & Jerry’s sued its parent again over Unilever deleting a social media post on abortion, climate change, minimum wages and universal healthcare “because it specifically mentioned Donald Trump,” according to several media reports. A March 10 post on the B&J website is headlined, “5 Reasons We Stand with Providers on Abortion Provider Appreciation Day — And Every Day.”
In the background of all this, Unilever is spinning off all of its ice cream business sometime this year. A Bloomberg News story in late February, citing “sources familiar with the matter,” said Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield are in talks to buy back the business. It’s uncertain if Unilever would sell Ben & Jerry's separately, nor if the founders could come up with the billion or so dollars it would cost.
Unilever responded to our request for comment with: "In line with the terms of the acquisition agreement, decisions on the appointment, compensation and removal of the Ben & Jerry's CEO will be made by Unilever after good faith consultation and discussion with the B&J's Independent Board. Regrettably, despite repeated attempts to engage the Board and follow the correct process, we are disappointed that the confidentiality of an employee career conversation has been made public. We hope that the B&J Independent Board will engage as per the original, agreed process."
We asked Ben & Jerry’s for comment but haven’t heard back.
By the way, another post on B&J’s website announces, “We're Hiring! Social Mission Director.” Sounds like a stressful job, at least at the moment.
Another by the way: B&J's free cone day is coming up April 8.
