Ben & Jerry’s co-founder Jerry Greenfield resigns from the company

SOUTH BURLINGTON, VT — Jerry Greenfield, one of the co-founders of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, has quit the company.

In an open letter posted on X (formerly known as Twitter), Greenfield wrote he could no longer “In good conscience” continue working for a company that had been “silenced” by its parent company Unilever.

"It’s with a broken heart that I’ve decided I can no longer, in good conscience, and after 47 years, remain an employee of Ben & Jerry’s,” Greenfield said.

Unilever purchased Ben & Jerry’s in 2000. The deal included an agreement meant to safeguard the brand’s social mission.

“Standing up for the values of justice, equity, and our shared humanity has never been more important, and yet Ben & Jerry’s has been silenced, sidelined for fear of upsetting those in power,” Greenfield said in the statement. “And it’s happening at a time when our country’s current administration is attacking civil rights, voting rights of immigrants, women, and the LGBTQ community.”

Unilever has not commented on Greenfield’s resignation.

“For more than twenty years under their ownership, Ben & Jerry’s stood up and spoke out in support of peace, justice, and human rights, not as abstract concepts, but in relation to real events happening in our world,” Greenfield wrote.

“It’s profoundly disappointing to come to the conclusion that that independence, the very basis of our sale to Unilever, is gone,” he added.

Last week, Ben & Jerry’s had attempted to engineer a sale to investors to “free itself from Unilever” but the proposal was rejected.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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