zoraniko
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Aug 19, 2026 5:01 AM
zoraniko
9484
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RichardPenne
They should start Cohen & Greenfield. I'd buy it.
newwoolmonosta
I gave up on Ben & Jerry’s once they sold it to Unilever and the recipes were all compromized.
Osiricus
Another company to add to the "Do Not Do Business With" list.
AnonsAndMinions
Jesus christ what the fuck. Didn't this aquisition go through like less than a year ago? What a piece of shit company. I'll def be boycotting Magnum now as well as B&Js as much as I hate it as those are both faves of the fam.
CarlBassett
Unilever bought Ben And Jerrys in 2000. But they were forced by major stockholder Nelson Peltz to spin the company off as its own independent company a couple of years ago.
cusbuster
Aren't they just happy to make huuuuge condoms.
DatDarthCaedus
I'll be honest... while Ben Cohen has had a bunch of good causes, I stopped listening to him when he went full pro-Russian and started spreading Russian propaganda and disinformation, supporting Russian assets, and donating to groups working to block aid to Ukraine.
Him actively promoting and supporting DOGE also didn't help.
torisenblack
Also, sell to a corp and make your $$$$ then bitch about them doing corp shit? C'mon dude, are you stupid or just grifting?
vanfem
Cheers, I'm glad people remember that side too.
nikinnorway12
wow, i had no idea! ill definitely look this up. Awful if true.
EroticZombiePants
The instant your favorite independent business gets bought out by a much bigger group, immediately give up on them, because they will inevitably change for the much worse.
elbowdeepinawhateverthatis
“The instant” is doing a lot of heavy lifting here as Unilever became majority shareholders of B&J’s more than a quarter of a century ago lol
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wadatahmydamie
You already said this, and it was wrong then too.
You’re still not familiar with how any of this works.
wadatahmydamie
@FiftyShadesOfTiramisu posted and then deleted the same comment twice after being downvoted: That Ben sold his company to Unilever.
That is factually untrue, he didn’t sell his company to Unilever, and that’s not how this stuff works anyway.
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wadatahmydamie
Not too familiar with how any of this works I take it?
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wadatahmydamie
You’re projecting because you still don’t know how this works. You deleted your comment because you were getting downvoted, and you were downvoted because you got a simple statement of fact wrong.
ifyoutakemeseriouslythatsonyou
I wa so happy when B&J made it into german supermarkets. Now it's 6€ the pint and they have only a handfull of pretty basic flavours. Have bought hardly any in the last couple of years.
dantedemanour
Its the same in the uk, most places have the basic ones that i can never get my favourite anywhere, makes it easier to boycott
theinternetkeepsmealive
Aldi and Lidl versions are just as good imo (at least here in Ireland, though obviously they're made by Irish companies so I can't speak to the quality of what you get in Germany) and less than half the price and you're not supporting a greedy conglomerate.
WhyWouldIUseMyRealNick
One thing B&J used to do well was produxtion using ethical and environmentally friendly ingredients. Not sure if this is still true.
FiftyShadesOfMascarpone
Combi and other supermarket chains also have knockoff brands.
DarkUranium
You sure the Aldi / Lidl ones aren't made by B&J? In many cases, those things are made by the same company.
theinternetkeepsmealive
Definitely not in Ireland, they're made by some smallish company down the county.
SleazyBijou
Regrets of a sellout… you’re old… take your money and go
Sonicschilidogs
He didn't though, it was a public traded company and they threatened a hostile takeover to pressure the board into a buyout that maintained independence, but then they removed the independence over the years since the buyout
CarlBassett
For it to be publicly the original owners Ben and Jerry would have had to sell the company, or a majority of it, to shareholders. They sold out and took the money at some point. If you own a private company Elon Musk could offer you a trillion dollars for it but you could still just say no.
SleazyBijou
For it to be publicly traded there had to be a “sellout” at some phase. Not saying he’s a bad guy.
TheFastpaws
It happens when sell a company.
GingerPerfect
They didn't sell, it was a hostel takeover. They had donated so much stock to various charities over the years that Unilever was able to buy it all up and become majority shareholders.
TheFastpaws
That really blows. =/
RustyLongshanks
That's especially twisted. Using their own charitable giving to steal their company from them.
Kemi337
They didn't actually complete a hostile takeover, though they were afraid of one happening. The board agreed to a buyout in exchange for maintaining some independance, which was whittled away when Unilever grouped all their ice cream businesses under Magnum.
OneInThePinkTwoInTheStink
Was going to make a joke about the hostel manager, but decided the comment didn't deserve that kind of reply.
p40thawk
That happens when you are traded publicly. Every publicly traded company trends towards evil. Herp derp, it is almost like making profit a legal obligation has negative consequences! Who would have guessed?!
SubsyServy
I feel your pain, I gave up Tim Hortons this week.
lopix
ONLY this week? Yer a sad, sad hoser...
TwoPaws
I just found out Covered Bridge chips is owned by a wife beating Maggot. I support Canadian, but will not support an abusive maple maga traitor.
Uberche
Jesus.... what?! That sucks so much, they're super local and I've been buying them for a while now....
jalondon628
Sadly, I was unaware of such promotion until after I picked up my Tims order this morning. And I just moved to an area where I have access to one too. Shame.
KrondorMocker
pascalstriangle
Yup
Lampmonster
I avoid so many brands these days. Honestly getting to the point I want to go live in the fucking woods.
TMCybersnark
There is no ethical consumption under capitalism. The only way to "opt out" is to not exist.
philmoregraves
Ill see you there. Been considering it too much lately
Lampmonster
Don't bogart all the mushrooms.
philmoregraves
Sharesies
notarightienow
Why?
Broonstar
other than the donuts, its vile
ragincanadian
A reason, not the only one: they abuse the temporary foreign worker program and take advantage of underpaid labour while taking gov subsidies. Another would be that their coffee and food sucks.
notarightienow
I think they are the biggest abuser of TFAs of the chains for sure. The food quality has gone down over the years too; I won’t eat there but only get drinks once in a blue moon from there.
Hexidimentional
She who must not be paid.
SubsyServy
I don't want to support anti-trans policies put forward by the creator of the Harry Potter Franchise.
CreatureFromtheBlackLegume
Gosh diddly darn it, I just found out there's one near me and now I can't go
notarightienow
Ah, yes, I get that.
georgejimmydoodle
Is Tim's doing a HP promotion?
SubsyServy
Yeah
georgejimmydoodle
Dang. Me too, I guess. We should let them know why we're walking away.
OperatorWay
Context?
Trunkmonkay
Ben and Jerry are old anti war hippies, which mean they think Ukraine is an Aggressor for defending themselves and complicit in their own genocide, and they think Israel not only has a right to defend itself but also to genocide. They've had stores setup in the Israeli occupied territories.
Ben and Jerry are massively stupid hypocrites.
NickRivieraMD
completely ass-backwards: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jul/31/ben-jerrys-ice-cream-magnum-boycott
philmoregraves
Are you special needs or something?
AlexHamil
How about let’s not equate special needs with malicious bigotry ok?
philmoregraves
Not malicious. If they're special needs then they need help understanding things. If they're not special needs then they're just stupid as fuck. Most likely its a bot anyways. Malicious would be if I KNOW they arent special needs and using it as way to insult them which also degrades the value of someone who is special needs. Or I could cut to the chase and say are you r*****ed. When im being malicious I usually say "youre spare parts arent yah" or just call them stupid and shit
WellGoodLuckWithThat
Hahaha wut? Sources?
thickythickydumdum
People that speak/write like that never have reputable sources...but no doubt you knew that when you asked for them =p
arikelrecords2000
Ben has stated publicly that he thinks the Ukraine war is being pushed by the USA, and there are more recent articles behind a pay wall. He's been pro settlement, anti genocide, and not always siding with Israel. Basically, his opinions are a lot more complicated than the person above makes them out to be
https://www.politico.eu/article/ben-cohen-ukraine-war-russia-blames-america-ben-and-jerrys/</a>
https://www.jns.org/israel-news/ben-jerrys-co-founder-us-supplies-arms-for-israels-genocide
reightb
Crack
ragincanadian
Everything you said is wrong. There isn't a more wrong thing you could have written.
svon1
he was anti Genocide in Gaza and got fired for it
Deoxyribonucleicacidwashedgenes
How do you get fired from your own company?
svon1
i live in the EU... we dont get fired for knowing forbidden things... ....oh wait you the ben & jerry's guy :D oh yeah that makes more sense... TLDR ....once you go stock board of leader ship... they can vote you out... CEO or not... he'd still have his stock... just no more power
wadatahmydamie
Capitalism also eats capitalists
riverpubby
Quit easily. In fact it happens frequently.
herppavitunderrpa23
if you're not a majority shareholder i could see that happening. or arguing in court that ones public stance is harmful to the company.
PyroAvok
https://media1.tenor.com/m/wV-mm23OXcIAAAAC/willem-dafoe-dafoe.gif
ArcherPointingFromTheComments
You go public. If the amount of shares you own is less than 51% then you have to do whatever the majority vote decides. Once you lose controlling interest you can be out voted. In this case, he was removed from having any directorial say (president, CEO,etc) . He still has ownership as far as dividends on profits are concerned but not enough to stop a majority vote from dictating their collective prerogative.
NickRivieraMD
This is wrong. Why did you so confidently state he still has ownership? It's a wholly owned subsidiary of Magnum, which is pretty much stated in the post. Magnum is a subsidiary of Unilever. https://www.benjerry.com/about-us/how-were-structured
OnlyWantToSayOneThing
A reminder, companies have treasury stock which is non voting and they tend to only own %30 to %40. The remaining voting stock (%60 for example) votes as if %30/%30 is a 50/50 split. Being part of a company doesnt make you a voter which is why even with 51% owned by a company, shareholders still can force ceos to step down. Ben probably owns a significant portion of stock and still can make votes with it, but isn't a manager of the company anymore.
ArcherPointingFromTheComments
Indeed, that's a great point. He doesn't retain a controlling interest (whatever percentage that may be) which is how he can be "fired" from his own company.
Kibblez
( I don't know if this is what happened to BnJ but its what normally happens) Company gets bought out by greedy ass hats, greedy ass hats force owners to subpar positions, then eventually kick the owners out entirely when they decide it's time to kick up the asshattery a notch or two.
wanderer2575
I don't support the current owner's moves, but let's be fair and note that Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield willingly sold their company to the ass hats in the first place and had no problem taking the purchase money.
justfillingthespace
I don't know this specific situation, but for what it's worth there are sometimes good reasons to sell out. Genuinely. Chef Boyardee hired a lot of people back in WWII to work the factories. But after the war, when the government contracts ran dry, they couldn't keep all those people on their payroll. They'd have to do some mass layoffs. Unless...they sold out to Campbell's Soup Co. So that's exactly what they did.
forreference
With buyouts it's often an offer you can't refuse.
mikeatike
Yea, anyone that sells theit company off shoud be prepared to not be involved with it at all.
And if its attached to your name, well, enjoy your millions or billions and fuckin retire. Don't be a greedy douche that sells a company and still wants control.
That said, the company is evil and deserves to be boycotted.
Deoxyribonucleicacidwashedgenes
Yeah I guess I don't know how you just get bought out. Like, if someone wants to buy my house and force me to move out I just... won't sell the house that I live in.
Kibblez
It's also easier for bigger companies to take up a smaller company if that smaller company is on the stock market. Bigger companies will buy out the smaller ones shares until they hold majority. The dickery knows no limits when it comes to big business. Someone correct me if I'm wrong but when this happens I believe they can't force the owners into subpar positions / removal but they can definitely force the owners to bend over and take cacti where ever they please.
theinternetkeepsmealive
These conglomerates make in impossible for smaller companies to survive so they have no choice but to sell. Like how Amazon bought all of its competitors to have a monopoly.
Winterous
If you make your company publicly traded then you don't get a choice.