Let's dare to dream...

June 2025

What if one of the world’s most beloved activist brands, eh, we mean ice-cream brand, reclaimed its entrepreneurial freedom?

Ben & Jerry’s, born from a scoop shop with a conscience, has always stood for more than just ice cream. In a world where purpose often melts under the pressure of profit, their founders dared to ask: What if we could take it back?

Purpose Meets Power: The Intent Behind the Unilever Deal

Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, childhood friends from Long Island, NY, founded the company in 1978. In 2000, intending to scale impact, they sold Ben & Jerry’s to Unilever for $326 million.

To grow their values-driven ice cream brand globally, the two founders saw an opportunity to partner with Unilever under the conditions that protections were in place to safeguard the company’s social mission.

Through a unique acquisition structure, they created an independent board tasked with overseeing brand integrity, ensuring that even under multinational ownership, their commitment to social justice, environmental responsibility, and ethical business would remain at the heart of every scoop.

Over time, though, tensions surfaced. Disagreements over activism and governance escalated – culminating in the removal of Ben & Jerry’s CEO David Stever and Unilever’s recent demand for an expedited audit of the Ben & Jerry’s Foundation, paired with threats to withdraw $5 million in annual funding.

Ultimately, protections on the governance level couldn’t withstand the growing tension between profit maximisation and the need to uphold the company’s core mission.

Ben & Jerry’s Founders Push for a Buyback

In recent interviews, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield have spoken publicly about their wish to buy back their company. “In the year 2000, Unilever loved us for who we were. Now we’ve gone separate ways in our relationship. We just need them to set us free.” (The Times of Israel, April 2025)

Cohen is reportedly assembling a group of values-aligned investors to do just that  – to reclaim the brand, restore its founding spirit, and protect its entrepreneurial independence.

But Unilever isn’t budging. The company insists Ben & Jerry’s isn’t for sale, and plans to include it in a new ice cream spin-off aimed at maximising shareholder value and streamlining its portfolio, keep progressing.

So what now?

What if the future of purpose-driven companies wasn’t just about regaining control, but about creating ownership structures where founders and investors can build relationships rooted in trust, shared values, and – in this case – a mutual commitment to the company’s mission, rather than short-term financial metrics?

Because this isn’t just about ice cream. It’s about the deeper challenge that purpose-driven companies face when ownership and values pull in opposite directions. Because corporate ownership matters. It matters who holds power, who makes decisions, and what success is measured by – these aren't just technical details. They shape the very DNA, the deep structure, of companies.

But, we have good news!

We’re seeing more and more companies across sectors and sizes confront this challenge head-on: Patagonia transferred its ownership to a PPT structure to protect its mission, Bosch reinvests profits through a foundation model, and Ecosia and BuurtzorgT show how startups and healthcare can thrive with purpose at the core – all while also staying profitable. Across the board, ownership is proving to be a quiet force for building an economy that serves people, society, and planet – and steward-ownership is emerging as the common thread.

As explored in *The New Yorker* a couple of years ago, this shift isn’t isolated – a growing number of companies are seeking ownership models that align with their purpose, and financing that supports long-term mission over short-term extraction.

This fall, many of them will gather in Berlin at the Steward-Ownership Conference to exchange experiences, discuss challenges, explore practical solutions, and reflect on how ownership can shape the future of business.

🍦 Ben, Jerry – your story continues to inspire a global movement. We’d love to talk. There’s a seat for you in Berlin this fall, and a conversation we’d be honoured to have.