They have been simply two associates from Lengthy Island. One was a failed potter, the opposite a med college reject. However with a $5 correspondence course and some thousand {dollars}, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield turned a rundown fuel station in Vermont into the launchpad for one of the crucial iconic ice cream manufacturers on the planet—referred to as a lot for its chunky, funky flavors as for its daring political stances.
Now, almost 5 many years later, that once-sweet success story has taken a bitter flip. On September 17, 2025, Jerry Greenfield introduced that he had stop Ben & Jerry’s completely, citing irreconcilable variations with the corporate’s company proprietor, Unilever. After 47 years of scooping sundaes and standing for social justice, Greenfield stated the corporate had misplaced its soul.
“It is with a damaged coronary heart that I’ve determined I can now not, in good conscience… stay an worker of Ben & Jerry’s,” he wrote in a press release shared by Cohen. “The independence, the very foundation of our sale to Unilever, is gone.”
What began with a $5 class has now advanced into one of many strangest and most contentious enterprise breakups in trendy company historical past.
From Gymnasium Class to Gasoline Station
Ben and Jerry’s story started in a seventh-grade fitness center class in Merrick, New York. Quick associates from their teen years, the 2 reconnected of their twenties, each just a little misplaced. Cohen was attempting to promote pottery. Greenfield was attempting—and failing—to get into medical college. In 1977, they determined to enter enterprise collectively.
They thought of bagels, fondue, and different stylish snacks, however ice cream gained out—it was cheaper to make. To arrange, they cut up a $5 Penn State correspondence course on ice cream manufacturing, studying mailed textbooks, and finishing open-book exams. That course, initially developed in 1892, nonetheless exists right this moment.
Pooling $12,000—$4,000 every, plus a financial institution mortgage and a few assist from Ben’s father, they opened their first scoop store in 1978 in a dilapidated fuel station in Burlington, Vermont.
Ben Cohen (left), Jerry Greenfield (proper) (Picture by Steve Liss/Getty Photographs)
Why the Chunks?
Ben Cohen has anosmia, a situation that limits his sense of scent and style. To make the ice cream expertise extra satisfying for himself, he relied on texture. That is why Ben & Jerry’s grew to become well-known for its over-the-top mix-ins—brownie bits, cookie dough, nuts, and swirls of caramel, fudge, and marshmallow. The feel wasn’t a gimmick. It was private.
The model’s early success was meteoric. By the mid-Eighties, pints have been accessible in grocery shops throughout the U.S. In 1984, the corporate went public. By 1987, Ben & Jerry’s was price $30 million (roughly $68 million right this moment). They fought off company bullies, together with a fierce authorized battle with Häagen-Dazs’ dad or mum, Pillsbury. The extra they punched up, the extra clients liked them.
However staying unbiased did not final.
Ben Cohen (left), Jerry Greenfield (proper) (Jamie McCarthy/Getty Photographs)
Promoting Out With out Giving In
In 2000, Unilever purchased Ben & Jerry’s for $326 million. That is the identical as round $600 million in right this moment’s {dollars}.
It was a bittersweet deal. The founders did not need to promote, however as a public firm, they needed to entertain shareholder gives. To protect the model’s mission, the deal included an uncommon clause: Ben & Jerry’s would retain an unbiased board empowered to make choices about its social activism and values.
That association would turn out to be each a safeguard and a supply of main battle.
Unilever helped take Ben & Jerry’s international. The model now sells in 43 international locations and generates an estimated $1 billion in annual gross sales. However the partnership has been something however easy. Through the years, Unilever clashed with the unbiased board on all the things from advertising campaigns to elements to political statements. The stress boiled over in 2021 when Ben & Jerry’s introduced it might halt gross sales in Israeli-occupied territories, citing human rights issues. The transfer sparked backlash, boycotts, and lawsuits. Unilever, in flip, bought the Israeli enterprise with out board approval. Ben & Jerry’s sued its personal dad or mum firm.
Then got here extra rifts: the ousting of CEO David Stever, strain from traders over the model’s politics, and even inner fights about whether or not the corporate may situation a press release calling for a Gaza ceasefire. On Wednesday, co-founder Ben Cohen was arrested throughout a Senate protest over U.S. assist to Israel. He was filmed being led out of the Capitol in handcuffs.
The Breakup and the Buyback Try
In March 2024, Unilever introduced it might spin off its whole ice cream division—together with Magnum, Breyers, Klondike, and Ben & Jerry’s—right into a standalone enterprise. Analysts estimate the group brings in about $9 billion yearly, however progress has been sluggish. Gross sales rose simply 2.3% in 2023, the slowest amongst Unilever’s divisions, with excessive costs prompting decrease client demand.
For Unilever, the chilly provide chain, seasonal gross sales patterns, and ongoing political complications made the ice cream enterprise extra bother than it was price.
Ben Cohen noticed a possibility.
In April 2025, he launched a long-shot effort to purchase again Ben & Jerry’s from Unilever. He actively sought like-minded traders, hoping to return the model to unbiased possession whereas preserving its activist mission. “Should you love us, allow us to go,” he stated, calling on Unilever to let the model function free from company constraints.
Unilever declined.
Jerry Walks Away
Right this moment, Greenfield threw within the towel with an announcement that he had resigned from Ben & Jerry’s. His resignation was revealed by way of a Twitter submit printed by Ben Cohen, which was captioned with the next assertion:
“After 47 years, Jerry has made the tough choice to step down from the corporate we constructed collectively. I am sharing his phrases as he resigns from Ben & Jerry’s. His legacy deserves to be true to our values, not silenced by @MagnumGlobal #FreeBenAndJerrys”
The Twitter submit additionally included an connected longer assertion from Jerry explaining his choice:
A Firm With a Soul
Cohen and Greenfield, now of their 70s, nonetheless reside close to headquarters in Vermont and, till right this moment, have remained concerned within the firm they co-founded. They confirmed up at franchisee occasions and spoke at worker gatherings. For them, Ben & Jerry’s is not nearly ice cream. It is about values—nonetheless messy, inconvenient, or controversial they might be. And that ethos has earned the corporate thousands and thousands of loyal followers, even because it alienates others.
