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Will Ben and Jerry Buy Ben & Jerry’s?

February 28, 2025 from Food Processing:

"The original Ben and Jerry -- Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, who founded their eponymous ice cream company in a garage in 1976 -- reportedly are in talks to buy back the business they sold to Unilever in 2000.

"All of Unilever’s ice cream business is scheduled for a spinoff from the company sometime this year. There were unconfirmed reports that the European conglomerate tried shopping the business around but couldn’t find a buyer.

"Ben & Jerry’s has had a rocky relationship lately with its parent, suing Unilever over sales in the West Bank/Occupied Palestinian Territories (Ben & Jerry’s tried to halt sales in protest of Israeli settlements there) and, this January, over Unilever deleting a social media post on abortion, climate change, minimum wages and universal healthcare “because it specifically mentioned Donald Trump,” according to several media reports.

"As Bloomberg said, they may need to partner with socially minded investors in any transaction because the Ben & Jerry’s business could be valued at several billion dollars in a sale, which means the founders would need deep-pocketed financial backers to make it happen."