Ben & Jerry’s accuses Unilever firing its C.E.O. Unilever’s CEO was fired for political reasons
He had been the ice-cream company’s top executive since 2023. He had held the ice cream company’s top job since 2023.
“Unilever has repeatedly threatened Ben & Jerry’s personnel, including C.E.O. David Stever, should they fail to comply with Unilever’s efforts to silence the social mission,” Ben & Jerry’s said in the filing.
Unilever informed the Ben and Jerry’s board on March 3 that it was planning to remove and replace Mr. Stever as chief executive, the filing said. Ben & Jerry’s said in the filing that this was done without the approval from an advisory board and against the agreement the two companies had signed when they merged back in 2000. It added that, “under Mr. Stever’s tenure, Ben & Jerry’s outperformed Unilever’s ice cream portfolio.”
In 2024, sales at Ben & Jerry’s grew faster than at Magnum, another one of Unilever’s major ice cream brands, according to a Unilever presentation on its financial performance.
Under the acquisition deal between the two companies, Unilever agreed to let Ben & Jerry’s maintain an independent board to oversee the brand. This allowed Ben & Jerry’s to place “guardrails” around its social activism and gave its founders continued control of the company.
The amended complaint filed on Tuesday was part of a lawsuit that Ben & Jerry’s filed in November accusing Unilever of censorship and threats over the ice cream maker’s efforts to express support for Palestinian refugees.
That lawsuit claimed that Unilever tried to dismantle the ice cream maker’s independent board and to stop it from taking certain political stances, including calling for a cease-fire in Gaza, supporting U.S. students protesting civilian deaths in the territory and urging an end to U.S. military aid to Israel.
Unilever did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It said in a press release last year that it would vigorously defend itself against the allegations in the lawsuit. Ben & Jerry’s did not respond either to a comment request.
