The Ice Cream Giant's Co-creator Jerry Greenfield Resigns, Citing Unilever Muzzled Activist Vision
The Vermont-based ice cream maker's co-founder Jerry Greenfield has parted ways from the beloved company after nearly 50 years, as stated by a post from his business partner Ben Cohen.
The announcement shared what he called a message from Greenfield, in which the exiting executive labeled it one of the “hardest and difficult decisions” of his life.
Greenfield stated that the company had been silenced by its corporate owner and that its independence to address social causes was now “gone.”
“Unless the business was willing to advocate for the things we cared about, then it no longer deserved to exist as a company at all,” Greenfield wrote.
This move came even after a acquisition deal meant to safeguard the company’s ethical commitments, Greenfield added.
“This autonomy was preserved in no small part because of the unique acquisition terms” that he and Cohen had negotiated with Unilever, Greenfield explained.
The ice cream maker and Unilever declined to comment to a request for comment from Reuters.
Recently, Cohen said that amid disagreements with Unilever, the firm had tried to engineer a transfer to investors at a reasonable price of $1.5 to $2.5 billion, but the proposal was rejected.
Unilever and the ice cream brand have been at odds since at least recent years, when the company announced it would stop selling in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The brand has also sued its corporate parent over accusations to silence it and has referred to the conflict in Gaza “genocide.”
