Ben & Jerry’s says parent Unilever decided to oust ice cream maker’s CEO

Ben & Jerry’s said its parent company, Unilever, decided to oust the ice cream maker’s chief executive, Dave Stever, escalating a battle over the subsidiary’s independence on social policy issues.

In a Tuesday night filing in Manhattan federal court, Ben & Jerry’s said Unilever advised on March 3 it was “removing and replacing” Stever, after repeatedly threatening Ben & Jerry’s personnel if they did not comply with the parent’s “efforts to silence the social mission.”

Stever was named chief executive in May 2023, having been with Ben & Jerry’s since being hired as a tour guide in 1988.

The new accusations came in Ben & Jerry’s lawsuit seeking to stop Unilever’s alleged efforts to dismantle its independent board and end its social activism.

They were included in a proposed amended complaint, which Ben & Jerry’s needs court permission to file.

Unilever had faced a Wednesday deadline to seek dismissal of Ben & Jerry’s earlier complaint.

Ben & Jerry’s has had a socially conscious mission since its 1978 founding by Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield.

Unilever bought Ben & Jerry’s in 2000. The companies have been at odds since 2021 when Ben & Jerry’s halted sales in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. That business was later sold.

Many companies have retreated on social policies that Donald Trump and other conservatives deem too liberal, as the US president seeks to reshape the federal government and parts of corporate America.

Last month, Ben & Jerry’s accused Unilever of unilaterally banning it from publicly criticizing Trump, ostensibly because of the “new dynamic.”

Unilever plans to spin off Ben & Jerry’s, Breyers, Magnum and other ice cream brands later this year, as it simplifies a product portfolio whose dozens of other brands include Dove, Hellmann’s, Knorr, Surf and Vaseline.

The case is Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Inc v Unilever et al, US District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 24-08641.