Magnum Ice Cream Trying to Remove Ben & Jerry’s Chairperson

In a Nov. 4 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, newly minted Magnum Ice Cream Co. implies it will remove Ben & Jerry’s chairperson because an external investigation found he or she “no longer meets the criteria to serve as a member of the Ben & Jerry’s board.”

The chairperson’s name was not mentioned throughout the lengthy document, but it apparently refers to Anuradha Mittal, founder of progressive think tank Oakland Institute. Her Facebook page says she’s chair of Ben & Jerry’s independent board of directors.

Aside from recounting the many skirmishes between Ben & Jerry’s and its parent Unilever, the specifics for her removal are not listed. “The Group has informed the Ben & Jerry’s Board about the results of the internal investigations. The Group will consider its options depending on the response it receives from the Ben & Jerry’s Board.”

We asked Magnum for a comment and will post that when we get it.

Magnum filed with the SEC a 20-F document, a registration statement required of foreign companies intending to list stock in the U.S. While the organization already is functioning in Amsterdam, the demerger from Unilever cannot be complete until its shares are approved for the New York Stock Exchange. The company expects that to happen Dec. 6-8.

The global demerger would be complete by now if not for the U.S. government shutdown, which has prevented the Securities and Exchange Commission from approving Magnum’s U.S. stock registration.

In its 170 or so pages, the filing lays out the case for investing in Magnum Ice Cream Co. But under the typical “risk factors” section, it includes discussion of how the actions of Ben & Jerry’s “may pose certain risks to the reputation and operations of the Group.” Ben & Jerry’s is mentioned 143 times in the document.

The American ice cream company and Unilever have been at odds for the past decade over its divisive social activism, which has included support for civil rights, opposition to Israel’s war in Gaza and criticisms of President Trump. Unilever censored some of those efforts and apparently fired Ben & Jerry’s president in March. Several of those disputes wound up in court, with Ben & Jerry’s suing Unilever.

Ben & Jerry's and others have suggested selling the Vermont ice cream company separately, but Magnum has said it's not for sale. That Nov. 4 SEC document notes Ben & Jerry's contributed €1.1 billion (nearly $1.3 billion) in sales in 2024.

Ben & Jerry’s independence stems from the agreement founders Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield struck with Unilever when they sold the company in 2000 – that Ben & Jerry’s could maintain independence and continue to speak on social causes, which had been a part of its success.