‘They ain’t got no soul’: How Ben & Jerry’s co-founder became his own company’s biggest critic

Ben Cohen, co-founder of Ben & Jerry's ice cream, has become a vocal critic of his own company's current ownership. Almost five decades ago, Cohen and his partner, Jerry Greenfield, started the brand as a socially conscious business that could generate profits while also doing good. However, Cohen now accuses the company's new owner, The Magnum Ice Cream Company, of abandoning those values and focusing solely on profit.

Cohen claims that Magnum has gutted the company's independent board and starved its philanthropic arm, the Ben & Jerry's Foundation. He has launched a public campaign called "Free Ben & Jerry's" to push Magnum to sell the brand to more socially-minded investors. So far, the campaign has gathered over 200,000 signatures.

Cohen argues that Magnum has no soul and that the only mission of the new owners is profit. Despite this, Ben & Jerry's remains Magnum's best-performing brand, with sales up 9.2% in the second quarter of the year.

The relationship between Cohen, Greenfield, and Magnum has been tense for years. In 2024, the independent board of Ben & Jerry's accused the parent company of preventing it from supporting core social missions and of removing board members through term limits. The company announced that the Foundation would shut down its operations by the end of the year, after Magnum cut its funding.

Cohen views the situation as an "asset-stripping campaign dressed up as governance reform." A Magnum spokesperson denies these claims, stating that the board made themselves ineligible to serve by refusing to sign a code of business integrity.

Despite the animosity, Ben & Jerry's is still Magnum's best-performing brand. However, not everyone within the company's investor base is comfortable with this trade-off. A coalition of investors has demanded standalone financial disclosures for Ben & Jerry's and an explanation of how Magnum intends to preserve board independence.

Cohen has taken the fight public, orchestrating a protest at a recent shareholder meeting to call for a boycott of Magnum's brands. He has threatened to extend the boycott if the company doesn't sell Ben & Jerry's to investors who share its founding mission. For Cohen, activism and good business must go "hand in hand."