Ben & Jerry's co-founder Jerry Greenfield quit on Wednesday, citing interference from parent company Unilever Plc over the famous ice-cream brand's social activism and criticism of Israel's killing of Palestinian civilians.
In an open letter published on social media by his business partner Ben Cohen, Greenfield said the company was no longer independent under Unilever, despite a "unique merger agreement...that enshrined our social mission and values" in perpetuity.
Greenfield and Cohen first clashed with the FTSE 100 consumer giant in 2021 when they said Ben & Jerry's would halt sales in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The brand has since called Israel's actions in Gaza a "genocide".
Cohen last week said the brand had attempted to engineer a sale to investors at a fair market value between $1.5bn - $2.5bn amid tensions with Unilever but the proposal was rejected.
The Magnum Ice Cream Company, a division of Unilever that has been hived off to be separately listed in November, said it disagreed with Greenfield and had sought to engage both founders on the matter.
Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com