You’d think a company that sells "Phish Food" and "Chunky Monkey" would be a pretty chill place to work. But honestly, behind the tie-dye and the Vermont cows, there’s been a massive corporate war brewing for years. If you’re standing in the grocery aisle wondering who owns Ben and Jerry's now, the answer just got a whole lot more complicated than "that big British company."
For decades, we all knew Unilever was the parent. They bought the brand back in 2000 for $326 million. But as of late 2025, that chapter is officially over.
In a move that’s been rocking the stock market and the activist world alike, Unilever decided they were done with the "ice cream headache." They spun off their entire ice cream division—including Ben & Jerry’s—into a brand-new, standalone company.
The New Boss in Town: The Magnum Ice Cream Company
Basically, the new owner is a corporation called The Magnum Ice Cream Company (TMICC).
If that sounds like a name for a Bond villain's shell company, it's actually just a massive new entity that now houses Ben & Jerry’s alongside other heavy hitters like Cornetto, Talenti, and (obviously) Magnum bars. This wasn't some quiet hand-off, though. The spinoff, which fully wrapped up in December 2025, made TMICC the largest pure-play ice cream company on the planet.
They’re trading on the New York, London, and Amsterdam stock exchanges under the ticker MICC. So, technically, if you own shares of MICC, you are one of the people who owns Ben and Jerry's now.
But here’s where it gets messy.
Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield—the guys whose faces are on the cartons—are pretty much livid. They’ve spent the last year launching a "Free Ben & Jerry’s" campaign because they think this new corporate structure is designed to kill the brand's soul.
Why the Spinoff Even Happened
Unilever's CEO, Hein Schumacher, was pretty blunt about why they wanted out. Ice cream is a weird business. It needs its own special trucks, massive freezers, and it's super seasonal. Unilever wanted to focus on "boring" stuff that makes consistent money, like Dove soap and Hellmann’s mayonnaise.
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But everyone knows the real reason was the drama.
Ben & Jerry’s has an independent board of directors. This was a "pre-nup" requirement when they sold to Unilever in 2000. This board has the legal power to protect the "social mission." And boy, did they use it. They’ve sued their own parent company multiple times—most recently over sales in the West Bank and calls for a Gaza ceasefire.
Imagine owning a kid who keeps suing you and telling your friends you’re the bad guy. Eventually, you’re gonna want that kid to move out. That's basically what Unilever did.
The Recent Governance "Coup"
Just days after the new Magnum Ice Cream Company started trading in December 2025, they dropped a bombshell. They implemented a new nine-year term limit for board members.
On the surface, it sounds like standard corporate logic. But in reality? It effectively fires the most vocal activists on the Ben & Jerry’s board.
- Anuradha Mittal, the long-time chair who has been the face of the brand's political stances, is out.
- Daryn Dodson and Jennifer Henderson are also being cycled out in 2026.
Ben Cohen called it a "blatant power grab." He’s not wrong. By changing the rules of the game, the new owners are trying to "normalize" Ben & Jerry’s so it stops making headlines for anything other than new flavors.
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Is Ben & Jerry’s Still "Ben & Jerry’s"?
It’s a coin flip. The new CEO, Jochanan Senf, is saying all the right things about "transparency" and "accountability." But at the same time, the company has frozen funding to the Ben & Jerry’s Foundation after an audit allegedly found "financial deficiencies."
There's a massive standoff happening right now between the old-school Vermont activists and the new suits at Magnum.
If you’re a fan of the brand for its politics, the current ownership situation is a red flag. If you just like the cookie dough, well, the recipe hasn't changed... yet. But the tension is real. Jerry Greenfield actually resigned from the brand entirely in late 2025, which felt like the end of an era for a lot of people.
What This Means for You
So, what's the bottom line on who owns Ben and Jerry's now?
- Ownership: It’s owned by The Magnum Ice Cream Company, a public entity spun off from Unilever.
- Control: The legendary "Independent Board" is being weakened by new term limits and governance codes.
- Future: The brand is moving away from its radical activist roots toward a more "standard" corporate ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) model.
If you want to support the original vision, you might want to look into the "Free Ben & Jerry's" campaign or keep a close eye on where that "social mission" money is actually going. For now, your pint of Half Baked is funding a global ice cream conglomerate that is very much trying to move past the controversy.
Keep an eye on the MICC stock and the upcoming board elections in 2026. That’s where the real fight for the soul of your ice cream is going to happen. If the new directors are all corporate insiders, you’ll know the "Vermont way" is officially history.