Ben & Jerry’s claims parent ousted CEO to chill ice cream maker’s ‘social mission’

Ben & Jerry’s says its parent Unilever has decided to oust the ice cream maker’s chief executive, Dave Stever, escalating a battle over the subsidiary’s independence on social policy issues, including sales in the West Bank.

In a Tuesday night filing in Manhattan federal court, Ben & Jerry’s says Unilever advised on March 3 it was “removing and replacing” Stever, after repeatedly threatening Ben & Jerry’s personnel if they did not comply with the parent’s “efforts to silence the social mission.”

Stever was named chief executive in May 2023, having been with Ben & Jerry’s since being hired as a tour guide in 1988.

The new accusations came in Ben & Jerry’s lawsuit seeking to stop Unilever’s alleged efforts to dismantle its independent board and end its social activism.

Unilever bought Ben & Jerry’s in 2000, but the companies have been at odds since 2021 when Ben & Jerry’s halted sales in the West Bank, against Unilever’s wishes. That business was later sold.

Last month, Ben & Jerry’s accused Unilever of unilaterally banning it from publicly criticizing US President Donald Trump, ostensibly because of the “new dynamic” created by corporate rollbacks of social policies deemed too liberal by the US administration.