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The Magnum Ice Cream Company says the chairman of Ben & Jerry’s board of directors no longer “meets its standards” following an internal investigation.
Magnum, which also owns Talenti and Klondike, said: SEC filing Ben & Jerry’s board of directors has been notified of the results of the investigation and said it will “consider its options” based on the response it received from the manufacturer, Cherry Garcia.
The ice cream company did not disclose the details of the investigation, nor did it directly reveal the name of the chairman. Ben & Jerry’s website featured Anuradha Mittal.He founded the Auckland Institute, a human rights think tank, and oversaw its board.
Ben & Jerry’s co-founder Ben Cohen said in an email that the move was a “deliberate attempt to rewrite history and strip the Ben & Jerry’s Independent Board of Directors of the legal rights guaranteed to it” when Unilever acquired the brand in 2000.
Ben & Jerry’s acquired ice cream through a ‘unique merger agreement’ signed 25 years ago. We have an independent board of directors to preserve and grow our social mission, brand integrity and product quality.
“Now Unilever/Magnum is breaking down these protections from within and targeting Anuradha Mittal, a man of tremendous courage and principle, simply for standing up for what is right,” he said. “This is not governance. It is a power grab to stifle social mission, which will ultimately destroy the long-term value of the brand.”
Consumer goods giant Unilever is in the process of spinning off its ice cream business into a separate company called Magnum. The separation, currently scheduled for December 8, was originally scheduled for this month but was postponed due to the U.S. government shutdown.
Magnum, which had sales of $9.3 billion last year, will immediately become the world’s largest company focusing solely on ice cream if it is separated from Unilever. The majority of Magnum’s sales will be generated in the United States, Magnum’s largest market.
The battle is the latest in an ongoing battle between Magnum/Unilever and Ben & Jerry’s, which has publicly stated that the ice cream giant has silenced its ability to speak out about social issues.
The brand previously said it had tried to stop Unilever from making public statements and demanding that it stop publicly criticizing President Donald Trump. Advocating for a ceasefire in Gaza. The two companies also disagreed earlier this year. Unilever fires Ben & Jerry’s CEO About his support of the brand’s social mission.
Last September, Ben & Jerry’s co-founder Jerry Greenfield said: He was resigning. The ice cream brand was born for the first time in nearly 50 years amid deepening conflict with Unilever. Greenfield said Unilever had abandoned its promise to give Ben & Jerry’s the independence to speak out on progressive social issues, choosing instead to “silence and sideline the brand for fear of upsetting those in power.”
