Jerry Greenfield, co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s, announced his resignation after nearly 50 years at the ice cream-maker, as a rift with parent company Unilever deepened over its stance on Israel and Gaza.
“It’s with a broken heart that I’ve decided I can no longer, in good conscience, and after 47 years, remain an employee of Ben & Jerry’s. I am resigning from the company Ben and I started back in 1978. This is one of the hardest and most painful decisions I’ve ever made,” Greenfield said in a letter shared by co-founder Ben Cohen on Wednesday.
“His legacy deserves to be true to our values, not silenced by Magnum Global,” Cohen added.
Greenfield’s departure comes as the company presses for independence ahead of Unilever’s planned listing of its global ice cream business in November, amid mounting friction over Ben & Jerry’s outspoken stance against Israel over its war in Gaza and its position toward Palestinians in the West Bank.
The dispute stems from Ben & Jerry’s decision in 2021 to stop selling products in Israeli settlements, a move Unilever opposed.
Despite a merger agreement designed to safeguard the brand’s activism, Greenfield claimed the company’s independence had eroded. “It’s profoundly disappointing to come to the conclusion that that independence, the very basis of our sale to Unilever, is gone,” he said in his resignation letter.
A spokesperson for The Magnum Ice Cream Company, Unilever’s ice cream unit, said the company was “grateful” for Greenfield’s contributions but added that it had made efforts to engage both founders on preserving Ben & Jerry’s “values-based positions in the world.”
Ben & Jerry’s, founded in 1978 in Burlington, Vermont, has long championed causes from LGBTQ+ rights to fighting against climate change.
Co-founder Cohen has been a polarizing figure for years due to his outspoken activism, in recent years after backing controversial critiques of U.S. foreign policy in Ukraine.
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