Magnum Ice Cream Removes Three Ben & Jerry’s Directors

One way or another, newly minted Magnum Ice Cream Co. has ousted three of Ben & Jerry’s board members, including its chairperson.

A number of media reported the removal of three board members, all on the basis of a new Magnum corporate policy that directors can serve no more than three years. All three of the Ben & Jerry’s directors served more than that.

In addition to being over that three-year limit, Chairperson Anuradha Mittal – who has been particularly critical of both Magnum and previous owner Unilever – may have been replaced “after an external investigation and an audit of the brand’s charitable arm, of which she is a trustee, uncovered conflicts of interest, according to people briefed on the matter,” according to The Financial Times. The conflicts were not specified.

Granting Ben & Jerry’s a share of independence was part of the agreement by which Unilever acquired the U.S. company from its namesake founders in 2000. But the left-leaning, social activist brand first rankled its European owners with criticism about racism in America and other social issues. The last straw was Ben & Jerry’s attempt to stop selling its ice cream in Jewish settlements in Gaza and the West Bank in support of Palestinians.

Unilever undid that effort, but only after there was considerable blowback on the corporate parent. Ownership of Ben & Jerry’s – and dealing with its independence – passed to Magnum Ice Cream when all ice cream businesses were finally spun off from Unilever Dec. 8.