As Ben & Jerry’s celebrated its annual Free Cone Day on Tuesday, one of the brand’s co-founders was focused on a different sort of freedom.

On the corner where his first ice cream shop opened in 1978 — and where the first Free Cone Day was held a year later — Ben Cohen called on Ben & Jerry’s owner The Magnum Ice Cream Co. to sell the brand. Cohen said Magnum is stifling Ben & Jerry’s social activism and he wants to see the brand sold to a group of socially minded investors.

“Magnum prevented Ben & Jerry’s from putting out a post supporting Black History Month,” Cohen said. “(Ben & Jerry’s) wanted to come out with a post calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. Magnum prevented that. We wanted to support the student protesters. Magnum wouldn’t allow that.”

“The longer this goes on, the more they’re destroying the brand equity,” Cohen added.

Ben & Jerry’s other half, Jerry Greenfield, resigned from the company in September 2025, calling it a “painful” decision after nearly 50 years with the brand and bemoaning in his resignation letter the disappearance of its independence. Cohen is still a paid employee of the company, but said he has no authority or responsibilities.

Cohen believes Ben & Jerry’s is now worth between $1.5 billion and $2 billion. He wouldn’t name any of the investors who are interested in buying the brand, but said they’re eager to talk to Magnum, which is based in Amsterdam.

However, Magnum said Tuesday that Ben & Jerry’s is not for sale.

“Ben & Jerry’s is a proud and thriving part of The Magnum Ice Cream Company,” Magnum said in a statement. “We remain fully committed to the Ben & Jerry’s model and its three-part mission — product, economic and social.”

Tuesday’s protest was Cohen’s latest action in a years-long campaign to make Ben & Jerry’s an independent company again.

Unilever, a London conglomerate that also owns Dove soap and Hellmann’s mayonnaise, acquired Ben & Jerry’s in 2000 for $326 million, or the equivalent of $625 million today.

At the time, Cohen and Greenfield said the partnership would help the progressive Vermont-based ice cream company expand its social mission globally. As part of the deal, Unilever agreed that Ben & Jerry’s independent board would be free to pursue its social mission, including longstanding support for causes like racial justice, campaign finance reform and fair trade.

In 2021, Ben & Jerry’s announced it would stop serving Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Jewish neighborhoods in East Jerusalem. The move was condemned by Israel, and Unilever distanced itself from it.

The following year, Unilever sold its Israeli business to a local company that said it would sell Ben & Jerry’s throughout Israel and the West Bank.

Ben & Jerry’s has already sued Unilever over alleged attempts to silence it and its independent board called Israel’s war against the Hamas terror group in Gaza a “genocide,” a charge strongly rejected by Israel. Ben & Jerry’s said Unilever also blocked social media posts that were critical of US President Donald Trump and threatened to dismantle Ben & Jerry’s independent board.

Unilever announced the spinoff of its ice cream business — including Ben & Jerry’s — in March 2024. It was part of a larger strategy at Unilever, which wants to focus more on health and wellness products and less on food. Magnum, which became an independent company in July 2025, is one of the world’s largest ice cream companies. It also owns brands like Breyers and Cornetto.

Are you relying on The Times of Israel for accurate and timely coverage of the Iran war right now? If so, please join The Times of Israel Community. For as little as $6/month, you will:

Support our independent journalists who are working around the clock under difficult conditions to cover this conflict;

Read ToI with a clear, ads-free experience on our site, apps and emails; and

Gain access to exclusive content shared only with the ToI Community, including weekly letters from founding editor David Horovitz.

We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.

You clearly find our careful reporting of the Iran war valuable, at a time when facts are often distorted and news coverage often lacks context.

Your support is essential to continue our work. We want to continue delivering the professional journalism you value, even as the demands on our newsroom have grown dramatically during this ongoing conflict.

So today, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. For as little as $6 a month you'll become our partners while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.

Thank you,David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel

1 Israeli, Lebanese envoys hold historic summit in Washington to discuss peace deal

2 Avenging angel risked her life to try to save Warsaw’s Jews — and lived to write about it

3 InterviewWho still reads Holocaust stories? A publisher sees shifting trends after October 7

4 Italy halts defense agreement with Israel amid Mideast conflict, PM Meloni says

5 Vance: Lot of progress made in talks toward ‘grand deal,’ but ball in Iran’s court

6 Holocaust Remembrance DayHow the sewers under Nazi-occupied Ukraine gave rise to unexpected Holocaust heroes

7 Trump: Iran talks may renew in 2 days; Mossad chief: Our mission isn’t over until regime falls

8 Reporter's notebookAt Auschwitz, Diaspora Jews who lived through terror march alongside Holocaust survivors

© The Times of Israel