Ben Cohen is 75. He and Jerry Greenfield sold Ben & Jerry's to Unilever back in 2000. Now the two founders want it out of the big company's hands, and they've got a twist. They want the workers to own it. The current owner, Magnum Ice Cream, says the brand isn't for sale.
The Journal’s Lauren Thomas, Ben Dummett and Mark Maurer report that Cohen and Greenfield have been talking with Pete Stavros. He’s KKR’s global co-head of private equity, but he’s doing this apart from his firm. The plan would carve Ben & Jerry’s out of Magnum and put it under an ESOP, an employee stock ownership plan. Workers would get stock. The company would get tax breaks. Stavros also started a group called Expanding ESOPs that pushes for more employee-owned companies in America.
Why Magnum is saying no
Magnum was spun off from Unilever last year. It’s based in Amsterdam and is worth close to 11 billion euros, about $12 billion. Unilever (UL) still holds roughly 20%. Its freezer case also holds Breyers, Talenti and Klondike. Ben & Jerry’s is one of Magnum’s biggest revenue makers, and it’s key to Magnum’s U.S. business. On its own, the brand could be worth around $3 billion, a person familiar with the matter said. Magnum says a split would raise costs and prices. A spokeswoman said “Ben & Jerry’s is not for sale” and called it thriving.
The brand has always been an odd fit inside a big company. Under the 2000 deal, an independent board controls its social mission and marketing. In 2021 it stopped selling in Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which put Unilever in an awkward spot. Cohen admits he has little leverage. He told the Journal all he can do is “generate more public pressure on Magnum to sell.” Stavros says he’d make sure an ESOP was “commercially viable” for both sides, if Magnum ever agreed.
Our read
This is an Estate story, the business-succession kind. Every owner leaves the business one day. The only choice is which door you use. Family, an outside buyer, or your own employees. An ESOP is the third door. In plain words, it’s a retirement plan that buys the owner’s shares and holds them for the workers. The seller can get tax breaks, the company can too, and the people who built the place end up owning it. It isn’t free. You need a real valuation, a loan to fund the purchase, and a trustee. It fits a profitable company with steady cash and an owner who cares who runs it next. Two founders pushing for it, decades after they sold, tells you how much that last part matters.
The concrete thing in your plan is the exit from any business you own, or the family business you’ll one day inherit. This week, write down all three doors and the rough after-tax number each one would leave you. Most owners have a number for one door and a feeling about the other two. Cohen took the buyer’s door in 2000. At 75, he’s still working on where the company ends up. We’d rather you walk the exits on a quiet Tuesday than on moving day. That’s what a review is for.