Ben & Jerry’s Board Chair Refuses to Resign as Unilever and Magnum Increase Pressure Ahead of Spinoff

Anuradha Mittal, the controversial chair of Ben & Jerry’s independent board, said she will not step down despite mounting pressure from Unilever and its soon-to-be–spun-off Magnum ice cream division. The public standoff comes just days before Magnum’s debut as a standalone company on Euronext, where it will inherit years of escalating conflict between Unilever and the Vermont-based brand.

Last month, Magnum said internal investigations concluded that Mittal “no longer meets the criteria” to serve on the Ben & Jerry’s board, though it offered no details. A separate audit of the Ben & Jerry’s Foundation, where Mittal has long served as a trustee, identified governance and financial control deficiencies. Mittal dismissed the audit as a “manufactured inquiry” designed to discredit her and undermine the authority of the independent board.

“This is not simply an attack on me,” Mittal said. “It is Unilever’s attempt to undermine the authority of the board itself.” She accused the company of attempting to weaken the governance structure guaranteed to Ben & Jerry’s in its 2000 merger agreement.

Magnum said the audit was part of routine preparations for the spinoff from Unilever and insisted it is committed to applying consistent governance standards across the new company. Unilever has not commented publicly.

Underlying the confrontation is the brand’s political activism, especially its positions on Israel. Mittal led Ben & Jerry’s 2021 decision to halt sales in Judea and Samaria and has pushed strongly worded public statements on the war in Gaza. Unilever has accused the board of turning the brand into a vehicle for polarizing advocacy. Ben & Jerry’s has sued its parent company twice in recent years, including over allegations of censorship regarding its anti-Israel messaging.

The Ben & Jerry’s Foundation said Magnum and Unilever are withholding funds in violation of contractual obligations and suggested that Mittal’s removal is the “central unresolved issue” of the audit. Magnum said it has fully funded the foundation for 2025 and will continue to do so if governance concerns are addressed.

Ben & Jerry’s co-founder Ben Cohen blasted Magnum’s position, calling it a “deliberate attempt to rewrite history and strip the board of its legal authority.”

Magnum, expected to control roughly one-fifth of the global ice cream market as a standalone company, has warned investors that continued activism by Ben & Jerry’s could expose the new firm to reputational risk, boycotts or shareholder claims.