By Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Ben & Jerry’s said its parent, Unilever, decided to oust the ice cream maker’s chief executive, Dave Stever, escalating a battle over the subsidiary’s independence on social policy issues.
In a Tuesday night filing in Manhattan federal court, Ben & Jerry’s said Unilever advised on March 3 it was removing Stever without consulting directors because of his commitment to the ice cream maker’s social mission and brand integrity, not because of concerns about his job performance.
It said Unilever chastised Stever in a January performance review for “repeatedly acquiescing” to Ben & Jerry’s promotion of social goals, and has repeatedly warned personnel not to defy its efforts to “silence the social mission.”
Ben & Jerry’s also said Unilever’s attacks on its social mission have reached “new levels of oppressiveness.”
It said Unilever blocked it in February from honoring Black History Month, and more recently from supporting the release from detention of Mahmoud Khalil, a U.S. legal permanent resident active in pro-Palestinian demonstrations at Columbia University and who the Trump administration wants to deport.
Unilever and its lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment outside business hours. Ben & Jerry’s and its lawyers did not immediately respond to similar requests.
Stever was named chief executive in May 2023, having been with Ben & Jerry’s since being hired as a tour guide in 1988. His current job status could not immediately be determined.
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.
They were included in a proposed amended complaint, which Ben & Jerry’s needs court permission to file.
Unilever had faced a Wednesday deadline to seek dismissal of Ben & Jerry’s earlier complaint.
Ben & Jerry’s has had a socially conscious mission since its 1978 founding by Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield.
Unilever bought Ben & Jerry’s in 2000.
The companies have been at odds since 2021 when Ben & Jerry’s halted sales in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. That business was later sold.
Many companies have retreated on social policies that Donald Trump and other conservatives deem too liberal, as the U.S. president seeks to reshape the federal government and parts of corporate America.
Last month, Ben & Jerry’s accused Unilever of unilaterally banning it from publicly criticizing Trump, ostensibly because of the “new dynamic.”
Unilever plans to spin off Ben & Jerry’s, Breyers, Magnum and other ice cream brands later this year.
The company is simplifying a portfolio whose dozens of other brands include Dove, Hellmann’s, Knorr, Surf and Vaseline.
The case is Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Inc v Unilever Plc et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 24-08641.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
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