The company that makes Ben & Jerry’s ice cream announced Tuesday it is cutting 7,500 jobs across the globe in an effort to save money.
Unilever — which is based in London and also makes Dove soaps, Vaseline, and the ice cream bars known as Magnum — is working to spin off its ice cream business, the Associated Press (AP) reported Tuesday, adding most of the jobs to be cut are office-based.
The company believes its sweet treat business would do better under separate ownership, the article continued:
Unilever said it will invest in technology to find efficiencies and avoid duplication that it anticipates will help it save 800 million euros ($867 million) over the next three years. The company also laid off 1,500 staffers in early 2022.
“Simplifying our portfolio and driving greater productivity will allow us to further unlock the potential of this business, supporting our ambition to position Unilever as a world-leading consumer goods company delivering strong, sustainable growth and enhanced profitability,” said CEO Hein Schumacher, who took the helm at Unilever last summer.
Meanwhile, Champlain College Finance Professor Fritz Burkhardt told WCAX he believes milk prices may have something to do with the recent decision.
“Ice cream is more of a lower margin product than many of the products that Unilever is actually trying to sell,” he said, adding Ben & Jerry’s history with social justice issues may have made Unilever’s stakeholders nervous:
Analysts say the break from Ben & Jerry’s may tamp down the clamor around “go woke, go broke.” The AP report also noted Ben & Jerry’s has thrown support behind LGBTQ rights, Black Lives Matter, justice issues regarding migrants, and so-called “climate change” issues.
The outlet also highlighted the fact that “the brand announced in 2021 that it would stop selling its ice cream in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and contested east Jerusalem — territories sought by the Palestinians.”
New York State’s pension fund said in 2021 it would sell off its Unilever PLC shares because of the company’s subsidiary Ben & Jerry’s boycott of Israel’s occupied territories, Breitbart News reported at the time, citing an article from the New York Post.
The Breitbart News article continued:
State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli said Ben & Jerry’s violated his office’s policy against the boycott, divestment, and sanction (BDS) movement in opposition to Israel in the ice cream company’s July decision to stop selling its products in Israeli-Palestinian territories, the New York Post reports.
“After a thorough review, the New York State Common Retirement Fund will divest its equity holdings in Unilever PLC,” DiNapoli announced in a statement to the Post. “Our review of the activities of the company, and its subsidiary Ben & Jerry’s, found they engaged in BDS activities under our pension fund’s policy.”
In March 2023, Ben & Jerry’s was sued for allegedly using child labor even though it was committed to social justice causes, Breitbart News reported.
“A New York Times investigation published last month alleged Ben & Jerry’s dairy facilities exploit migrant child laborers, often for dangerous and factory jobs, despite the ice cream company’s declared mission to ‘honor and stand with’ migrants,” the outlet said.
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