Ben Cohen, the co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s, has said the ice cream brand will be destroyed if it remains with parent company Magnum.
While interacting with the BBC, Ben Cohen remarked, amid the growing feud between Ben & Jerry’s and Magnum over the former’s freedom to pursue its social mission and retain independence over its board. Magnum, on November 8, began trading on the European stock market after spinning off from owner Unilever. The venture wants to strengthen Ben & Jerry’s “powerful, nonpartisan values-based position in the world,” said a company spokesperson.
In 2000, Ben & Jerry’s was sold to Unilever as part of a deal that saw it retain an independent board and the right to pursue its social mission. However, the deal led to clashes between the stakeholders, which has now been reportedly inherited by Magnum.
Ben & Jerry’s has been a vocal supporter of the Palestinian cause, and in 2021, it prohibited the sale of its products in areas occupied by Israel. In response, its Israeli operation was sold by Unilever to a local licensee. In October 2025, the feud entered a new chapter, as the brand was prevented from launching an ice cream product that expressed “solidarity with Palestine.”
Ahead of its spin-off from Unilever in November, Magnum said that Anuradha Mittal, chair of Ben & Jerry’s, “no longer met the criteria to serve.” She has held the position since 2018 but was asked to resign following an internal audit conducted by Magnum, which found a “series of material deficiencies in financial controls, governance and other compliance policies, including conflicts of interest.”
While speaking to Reuters, Mittal said, “The so-called audit of the foundation was a manufactured inquiry, engineered to attempt to discredit me. It is important to understand that this is not simply an attack on me as chair; Unilever attempts to undermine the authority of the board itself.”
Ben Cohen further told the BBC that Magnum had “no standing to determine who the chair of the independent board should be.”
“Therefore, by trying to (change the chair of the board), I would say that Magnum is not fit to own Ben & Jerry’s. Ben & Jerry’s must be either owned by a group of investors that support the brand and sought to encourage its values, or Magnum should make a 180-degree turnaround and say they support the chairman of the independent board,” he added.
Mittal reportedly has no plans to step down from the board as Magnum awaits its share market entry.
Ben Cohen is still an employee of Ben & Jerry’s and is the most high-profile spokesperson for the brand. However, he said that under Magnum’s ownership, the ice cream maker could end up losing its most “loyal” customers.
“If the company continues to be owned by Magnum, not only will the values be lost, but the essence of the brand will be lost,” he noted.
Magnum CEO Peter ter Kulve, meanwhile, has told the Financial Times that Ben & Jerry’s founders, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, were in their 70s and “at a certain moment they need to hand over to a new generation.”
Jerry Greenfield left the company in 2025 over concerns that its social mission was being stifled.
“As they destroy Ben and Jerry’s values, they will destroy that following, and they will destroy that brand. It’ll become just another piece of frozen mush that is just going to lose a lot of market share,” Ben Cohen concluded.