Ben & Jerry’s co-founder Ben Cohen has slammed parent Magnum Ice Cream Company, saying it is “destroying” the brand, in an interview with CNBC.

The world’s largest standalone ice cream business, Magnum, is only a week old but has already had a lifetime of corporate drama.

Ben & Jerry’s CEO Jochanan Senf, appointed by Unilever, has said changes to the terms of the board, including a nine-year term limit, setting a board cadence with “protocols on engagement” and an obligation to comply with Magnum’s code of business integrity, would strengthen governance and transparency. 

Cohen, however, said statements made by Magnum about the governance changes were “Orwellian.”

“They said that they’re enhancing the social mission when they’re actually destroying it. They said that they’re future-proofing the Board of Directors when they’re actually dismantling it,” Cohen told CNBC. “It’s another desperate power grab.”

By Monday, three directors had been ousted from the independent board of Ben & Jerry’s, in a new twist to the conflict between the brand named after its well-known founders and its parent company over the brand’s social mission. It’s a row that newly listed Magnum inherited from consumer giant Unilever when it officially spun off into an independent company last week.

Ben & Jerry’s latest move to change its board governance was intended “to preserve and enhance the brand’s historical social mission and safeguard its essential integrity,” Ben & Jerry’s said in a press release.

Chair Anuradha Mittal — one of the board members notified of their ineligibility — was told she “no longer meets the criteria to serve” as a member of the board following “internal investigations,” the company said, without giving further details.

“Initially, they were trying to get rid of the chairman of the [independent] board, by making these unfounded allegations that she’s ‘not fit to serve’. They weren’t able to substantiate that, so now they’re saying, well, she served for too long,” Cohen said. “It’s arbitrary, and it’s illegal.”

Ben & Jerry’s was sold to Unilever in 2000 in a deal that allowed the brand to maintain an independent board as well as the right to make decisions on its social mission. Since 2021, however, growing discontent by the board as well as founders Cohen and Jerry Greenfield over what they call attempts to “silence” the social mission.

Unilever, and now Magnum, retains primary responsibility for all matters not relating to the social mission or matters expressly delegated to the Ben & Jerry’s board, including financial and operational aspects.

CNBC has reached out to Magnum…

Magnum Ice Cream Company, now the world’s largest standalone ice cream business, debuted on the Amsterdam stock exchange on Monday.

The stock opened at 12.20 euros, slightly below its reference share price of 12.80 euros. Secondary listings are also taking place in London and New York.

“We became the global leader in ice cream as part of the Unilever family,” CEO Peter ter Kulve said Monday ahead of the debut. “Now, as an independent listed company, we will be more agile, more focused, and more ambitious than ever.”

Unilever first announced plans to spin off its ice cream unit, which includes Ben & Jerry’s and Magnum, in March last year.

“The reason that Unilever decided to spin off Magnum is really because they haven’t been able to focus on it,” RBC’s James Edwardes Jones told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe.”

“They haven’t had the bandwidth to accommodate Magnum at the same time that they’re really pushing ahead on their personal care strategy. And as a result of that, the idea of the IPO of Magnum is that they’re going to have a dedicated management able to focus on costs, on capital expenditure and so on, really 100% focused on the ice cream business.”

The consumer goods giant faced pressure from investors to overhaul its sprawling business. Its ice cream division, which generated 7.9 billion euros ($9.2 billion) in revenue in 2023, would perform better as a stand-alone business. 

Magum in September set a target to grow revenue between 3% to 5% in the medium term from 2026.

“There’s a strong emerging market angle, and it has a leading market share in its industry, with some very powerful brands,” said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell. “On the downside, you have commodity exposure, you have this governance issue with Ben & Jerry’s, which is a major challenge, and you have a business that’s pretty much weather related,” he told CNBC’s “Europe Early Edition” on Monday.

“Also, there is the suspicion that, given that it has been perhaps run for cash, and it’s a fairly capital-intensive business, there’ll need to be some fairly substantial investment going forward as well.”

The consumer staples category is expected to face challenges due to health-conscious consumers and the booming weight loss drug business pioneered by Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly. Magnum has suggested that these factors could cost the company about half a percentage point per year in revenue, Mould said, adding that management may come up with new formats to counter the trend.

A series of public disputes with the founders of Ben & Jerry’s has threatened to overshadow the spinoff.

Speaking to the Financial Times, Magnum’s CEO Peter ter Kulve called on Ben & Jerry’s co-founders Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield to “hand over to a new generation.” Cohen responded by accusing Magnum of attempting to silence the brand’s social mission. He previously…

Ben & Jerry’s co-founder Jerry Greenfield has stepped down from the ice cream maker after nearly 50 years amid an ongoing row with parent company Unilever.

In an open letter shared on Wednesday by the eponymous brand’s co-founder Ben Cohen, Greenfield dubbed the decision “painful,” but said that the Unilever had silenced the company’s ability to speak up on global issues, including the conflict in 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,” Greenfield wrote in a post on X.

The departure comes despite a merger agreement with Unilever — which bought Ben & Jerry’s for $326 million in 2000 — that was expected to safeguard the Vermont-based company’s independence.

Ben & Jerry’s has long been vocal on social activism issues. However, it came to a head with its owner Unilever since at least 2021, when the ice-cream maker said it would stop selling its products in the Israeli-occupied West Bank in response to the conflict in Gaza.

“It’s profoundly disappointing to come to the conclusion that that independence, the very basis of our sale to Unilever, is gone,” Greenfield wrote.

Unilever is in the process of spinning off its ice cream business into a new entity known as the Magnum Ice Cream Company, which is set to list in November.

A Unilever spokesperson said the company disagreed with Greenfield’s perspective, and that it had sought to “engage both co-founders in a constructive conversation on how to strengthen Ben & Jerry’s powerful values-based position.”

“We remain committed to Ben & Jerry’s unique three-part mission – product, economic and social – and remain focused on carrying forward the legacy of peace, love, and ice cream of this iconic, much-loved brand. Ben & Jerry’s is a proud and thriving part of The Magnum Ice Cream Company and we look forward to further building on its success,” the spokesperson added.