Ben & Jerry's founders explore deal to separate brand from owner, WSJ reports

Oct 26 — Ben & Jerry's founders Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield are exploring ​a deal to separate their brand from its current owner, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.

The ‌ice cream brand is owned by Unilever spin-off Magnum Ice Cream.

The co-founders ⁠have been discussing a ​deal with Pete Stavros, founder ⁠of Expanding ESOPs, to carve out the business and ‌structure it under ‌an employee stock-ownership plan, WSJ said, citing Stavros and ⁠Cohen.

The structure would give rank-and-file ⁠employees stock while providing the company with tax benefits, the report added.

But any deal would need to be approved by Ben & Jerry's owner Magnum, which told Reuters in an emailed statement that "Ben & Jerry's is not ‌for sale and, more importantly, is ​thriving as part of The Magnum Ice Cream Company."

"Taking Ben & Jerry's out of Magnum would drive significant dis-synergies, investment in the social mission would fall, and selling prices per unit would inflate," it added.

Ben & Jerry's has a history of vocal social activism and its founders and board have repeatedly clashed with former parent Unilever over political ​and ethical stances.

Magnum has also looked to weaken the control ‌of Ben & Jerry's ‌independent ⁠board, which has been reduced to just two members.

Cohen told the WSJ that "all he could do is try to generate more public pressure on Magnum to sell."

Ben & Jerry's and ‌representatives for the co-founders ​and Stravos did not immediately ‌respond to Reuters requests ⁠for comment.

(Reporting ​by Vallari Srivastava and Anshuman Tripathy in Bengaluru; Editing by ​Shailesh Kuber)

Related topics