The Magnum ice cream brand, best known over the world for its popsicles, demerged in 2025 from its parent company Unilever. Unilever actually spins-off its entire multi-brand ice cream division (valued at €15bn), founding thereafter The Magnum Ice Cream Company (TMICC). The move started in July 2025 and was completed by the end of the year in December. Alongside Magnum as the leading brand, the Ben & Jerry’s ice cream brand also leaves Unilever to join Magnum. Yet, the inclusion of this famed brand in TMICC does not appear to be ‘one happy marriage’. With Ben & Jerry’s, the Magnum company inherits from Unilever a long running conflict over the independent social mission of its co-founders; Ben & Jerry’s poses a risk to shackle down its ‘sister’ brands in the newly born ice cream business.
The process of demerger was initiated on 1 July 2025, when TMICC started to operate as a standalone business. The company is incorporated in Amsterdam, and in early December the process was completed as shares of TMICC commenced trading in Amsterdam, London and New-York. The former parent company Unilever continues to hold a stake of under 20% in TMICC which it will cut down over the next five years (the shares will be sold to cover the costs of separation) (Unilever’s press release announcement, FT.com on 31 July 2025 [1]).
The four remaining divisions of Unilever are personal care, beauty & wellbeing, food, and home care. The company explains that the ice cream division had unique characteristics that were not aligned with complementary operating models of the other four divisions that Unilever retains from now on [FAQs on TMICC by Unilever, viewed on 28 December 2025]. It is noted that preceding the demerger, the sales of the ice cream division accounted in the first half of 2025 for 15% of the total revenue of the Unilever group, and the sales (volume) of ice cream rose at a higher rate than for the other divisions [1].
- Following the establishment of The Magnum Ice Cream Company, it becomes the world’s largest standalone ice cream business. The brand Häagen Dazs is jointly owned by General Mills and Froneri. Nestlé is a partner in Froneri and has its own ice cream division with six brands; among them it presents Häagen Dasz and Mövenpick (of Swiss origin) as its premium brands.
The four major brands of TMICC are Magnum, Ben & Jerry’s, Cornetto, and Wall’s (out of 9 brands in total, e.g., also Côte D’Or). A brief background on these brands is brought below [Our Brands at TMICC]:
- Magnum specialises in popsicles with dark (Belgian) chocolate coating and fillings of chocolate or vanilla ice cream; there are special varieties in offering such as White (coating), Almond and Bonbon;
- Ben & Jerry’s was founded in the 1980s by Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield in Vermont. The brand was sold to Unilever in 2000 (see more on their relations below). It offers scoop ice cream in cups or waffle cones (origin of the brand, sold in ice cream shops, now operating in 18 countries) and ice cream packed in pints (sold in food stores, kiosks etc.). The specialty of Ben & Jerry’s has been ice cream flavours with add-on ingredients or chunks (e.g., cookies, caramel, cheesecake, chocolate fudge, cherries, banana). Furthermore, the brand has also been famous for its curious names assigned to flavours (e.g., American Dream, Cherry Garcia, Chunky Monkey). It also offers non-dairy ice cream (based on oats) and Gluten-free ice cream.
- Cornetto offers ice cream in wafer cones that have to be unwrapped; the Classico version is based on vanilla ice cream with chocolate coating and hazelnut pieces, while other versions contain strawberry, mint, whole chocolate, or soft cookies.
- Wall’s brand offers as its specialty popsicles in fruit flavours as well as chocolate (Note: the brand is known in 27 local names, language-adapted, in different countries — in addition to Wall’s in the UK, also known for example as Algida in Italy, Langnese in Germany, or Kibon in Brazil).
When Cohen and Greenfield sold their brand to Unilever, the agreement included a condition that Unilever would allow Ben & Jerry’s to “retain an independent board and the right to make decisions about its social mission” (BBC News, 9 December 2025 [2], italics typeface added). This constriction, with the two factors highlighted, is the source of disputes and clashes that emerged first between the brand and Unilever, and now inherited by TMICC, which spells more trouble for the new company.
The management of TMICC is interested in changing course for Ben & Jerry’s and updating its priorities; in particular, it implies not extending the commitment to Ben & Jerry’s social activism, though the management of TMICC says it supports the “non-partisan values” of Ben & Jerry’s. Furthermore, TMICC moves to replace the chair of the board of Ben & Jerry’s (note: the brand maintains a status of subsidiary company, Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Inc., whose parent company is from now TMICC). Cohen and Greenfield have shown their grave dissatisfaction with the attitude of TMICC during the past six months, considering it inadequate. Greenfield already retired over the position of TMICC in September 2025. Cohen was angered by its position, especially the removal of the chair of the board, and claims that it threatens to destroy the brand he co-founded with Greenfield. [2]
Cohen and Greenfield suggest that the differences of view already arose with the management of Unilever. In an open letter to the new board of TMICC they claimed: “For several years now, the voice of Ben & Jerry’s has been silenced by Unilever, particularly when the brand has tried to speak out about social justice and unjust wars. That is not the Ben & Jerry’s that we founded, or the one that we envisioned when we agreed to join Unilever 25 years ago” (CNN Business, 9 September 2025 [3]). Hence, they contend that the freedom received from Unilever in 2000 to pursue the brand’s social mission was eroded by the former parent company much before handing over its ice cream division to TMICC. With the transfer of the brand to the new parent company, their fighting became more urgent to maintain the independence of Ben & Jerry’s, primarily as social-conscious [3].
In the open letter from four months ago, the co-founders proposed to the board of TMICC to spin-off Ben & Jerry’s and let it operate independently, as was done in the demerger of TMICC from Unilever [3]. Cohen reiterated this suggestion recently [2], whereby he calls to recruit investors that would set Ben & Jerry’s free and separate from Magnum. He remarked in justifying his position that: “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” [2]. However, Cohen and Greenfield no longer have control of the ice cream brand, Ben & Jerry’s, that they created, and therefore it is vague what leverage Cohen can have to push forward this move. Unilever commented earlier in response to the claims and the suggestion by the co-founders in their open letter, that Ben & Jerry’s is a “proud part” of TMICC and is not for sale [3]. Could that position change in coming months? — it is hard to tell where the continuing tensions will lead.
Part of the dispute, still with Unilever, entails the refusal of Ben & Jerry’s in 2021 to sell ice cream with its brand name in the West Bank territories held by Israel and contested by the Palestinians [2]. Unsurprisingly, the decision. endorsed at first by Unilever, stirred great anger in Israel, and raised concern for the local licensee making the ice cream for Ben & Jerry’s, caught in the middle and whose business was put in jeopardy. Realising the severity of the crisis that the stand of Ben & Jerry’s caused, Unilever reached a settlement wherein the operation was sold to the local licensee to make and distribute the ice cream of Ben & Jerry’s across the country [2], presumably against the will of the co-founders. (Note: The anger in Israel arose not least because the critical co-founders are Jewish. It remains unclear whether TMICC will try to change again the status of Ben & Jerry’s in Israel).
That was just one of the issues that Ben & Jerry’s had clashes over with Unilever, but apparently generating the greatest publicity. Unilever has had differences of opinion and approach with the board of Ben & Jerry’s over time about pursuing “progressive issues” (note: the co-founders alleged that in March 2025 Unilever already ousted the CEO of Ben & Jerry’s for his ‘progressive comments’ without approval of the board, also see Food Dive [4] on the replacement of David Stever by Jochanan Senf, appointed in July 2025). In the past few years Ben & Jerry’s addressed socio-political issues such as abortion, climate change, and universal healthcare. In the past year (2025) officials at Ben & Jerry’s expressed criticism of Donald Trump’s policies and on the war of Israel with Hamas in Gaza. [3]
The dilemma whether companies should be involved in matters of current affairs is long debated, and there is no correct answer. Companies and their brands are expected to demonstrate social responsibility, primarily by contributing to the wellbeing of communities (including employees, customers) in geographic areas where they operate plants, large stores, logistic facilities and other establishments, so as to benefit and improve the quality of life of the residents (e.g., create social or cultural projects, protect the environment, invest in development of infrastructure, green parks etc.). They may broaden their involvement to concerns at a national or international level, but then things can get more sensitive and complicated. Senior officials of a company can have a moral stand on public issues of higher order, and they may also make a statement on the matter which some consumers will receive as justified but others will reject — how well the statement is accepted may depend on the topic and on how it is presented. Taking actions on the matter can have even stronger repercussions. Furthermore, intervening in highly controversial and charged political conflicts is likely to have moral, economic and business implications on both sides of the conflict. The executive suite and board of the company have to consider if and how it is appropriate to make public statements or take respective actions, which should better be positive, constructive and helpful for fulfilling their cause.
That is where it appears that Ben & Jerry’s has crossed a line, losing legitimacy as well as efficacy. Ben Cohen seems to be more interested in advancing the social mission (truly being socio-political) of the brand than in its ice cream. However, a brand should not be utilisied as a vehicle for promoting and actualising social or moral ideals, as guided in this case by its co-founders. The prime focus of the brand should be its products and customers. The attention and concern of the management of Ben & Jerry’s, for instance, should be dedicated to aspects such as the quality of the ice cream, the variety of flavours, and creativity in developing new ice cream versions or products as well as in its marketing.
The social and moral values can be applied as supportive arguments by consumers who favour and share those values when preferring the brand over competitors (or rejecting a brand that does not support their favoured values). A spokesperson of Unilever said in September 2025 (quoted by CNN [3]) that they “remain committed to Ben & Jerry’s unique three-part mission — product, economic and social — and look forward to building on its success as an iconic, much-loved business” (boldface added). But has Ben & Jerry’s really holding to its reputation in recent years as creators of (new) tasty and interesting flavours? It looks rather that the ‘product’ has been withdrawn to backstage in favour of the ‘social’. If that statement from Unilever is indeed adopted by TMICC and reflects how it will be re-shaping the priorities of Ben & Jerry’s, that would be a reasonable direction to take in its business strategy.
TMICC will have to resolve the challenge from Ben & Jerry’s, but it cannot let this conflict control its agenda. As an independent business for ice cream, its management can consider new directions for its development and take actions that were not worthwhile for the greater, multi-category Unilever. It may, for example, contemplate the addition of products such as chilled or frozen desserts (based on ice cream), drinks like milk shakes and frappé, or equipment (with recipes) for making ice cream at home. At the brand level, the new Magnum company may choose to acquire additional brands, build a new specialty brand, or enhance and extend Magnum or any of its other brands with products like those suggested above. Furthermore, TMICC may look into re-developing its retail arm of ice cream shops to reach out to consumers at first-hand, whether through association with Ben & Jerry’s and its branded chain, or by creating new chains by Magnum, Côte D’Or or another brand name.
The separation by spin-off from Unilever presents the new Magnum Ice Cream Company with fresh and novel possibilities to broaden, expand and enhance its business in this field. As more days in the year get warmer, and warm days become hotter, ice cream promises to be even more of a life necessity. However, the management of TMICC will need to cater for the quality, tastes and soft texture of the ice cream side by side with offering healthier options (e.g., low sugar, low calories, allergens-free). The Magnum company has little reason to forsake a valuable brand such as Ben & Jerry’s, but it also seems to have little interest in maintaining a ‘progressive brand. It will be intriguing to see how TMICC plays its cards, builds on its brand assets, and evolves.
References:
[1] “Unilever’s Ice Cream Sales Rise Ahead of €15bn Spin-Off“, Madeleine Speed, Financial Times: FT.com, 31 July 2025 (registration required)
[2] “Ben & Jerry’s Brand Could Be Destroyed, Says co-Founder“, Pritty Mistry, BBC News (online), 9 December 2025
[3] “Ben & Jerry to Unilever: This Is Not the Ben & Jerry’s That We Founded“, Jordan Valinsky, CNN Business: CNN.com, 9 September 2025
[4] “Unilever Names a New CEO for Ben & Jerry’s Amid Board Dispute“, Christopher Doering, Food Dive, 11 July 2025
Consumer / Shopper / Customer Behaviour 