Ben & Jerry's is owned by The Magnum Ice Cream Company N.V., a Dutch company listed in Amsterdam, London and New York, which was demerged from Unilever on December 6, 2025 and began trading on December 8, 2025. As of August 2026, Unilever is no longer the parent: it is a minority shareholder holding 19.85%.
The corporate parent changed, and so did something the original 2000 deal was built to protect. The independent board that was supposed to guard Ben & Jerry's social mission no longer exists in its old form, and the resulting fight is live in federal court in Manhattan.
Key takeaways
- The Magnum Ice Cream Company N.V. (TMICC) owns Ben & Jerry's. Demerger completed December 6, 2025; shares listed on Euronext Amsterdam, the London Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange (ticker MICC) on December 8, 2025.
- Unilever held 121,533,558 shares, or 19.85% of the votes, per the AFM notification dated December 8, 2025 and reported in TMICC's 20-F. It has committed to sell the whole stake within five years of the demerger, and registered all of it for resale with the SEC in April 2026.
- Ben & Jerry's is 100% owned, held through Ben & Jerry's Holdco, LLC, with Ben & Jerry's Homemade Inc as the operating entity. All are on the wholly owned list in Note 23 of the 20-F.
- The independent board is gone. Magnum introduced new director eligibility rules and removed the board members through to January 1, 2026.
- Jerry Greenfield resigned in September 2025 after nearly 50 years, saying the brand's independence had gone.
- Ben Cohen is publicly trying to buy the brand back, valuing it at $1.5 billion to $2 billion, and has threatened a boycott of Magnum's other brands.
- TMICC generated €7.9 billion in revenue in 2025 across 30 factories and 16,500 employees. Ben & Jerry's is one brand inside it, and brand-level revenue is not disclosed.
This article is based on primary sources: The Magnum Ice Cream Company N.V.'s Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2025 (filed with the SEC on March 18, 2026 under CIK 0002071668), including its substantial shareholder table and the Note 23 subsidiary list; TMICC's investor relations demerger timeline; and the federal court docket in Ben & Jerry's Homemade, Inc. v. Conopco, Inc., No. 1:24-cv-08641-PKC in the Southern District of New York. Full source list at the bottom.
Who owns Ben & Jerry's right now?
The chain, as disclosed in the 20-F filed March 18, 2026:
| Layer | Entity | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Listed parent | The Magnum Ice Cream Company N.V. | Incorporated in the Netherlands on April 15, 2025, as The Magnum Ice Cream Company B.V. Headquartered in Amsterdam |
| Listings | Euronext Amsterdam, London Stock Exchange, New York Stock Exchange | NYSE ticker MICC. Listed December 8, 2025 |
| Intermediate holding | TMICC HoldCo B.V. and the Netherlands HoldCo 1 to 4 entities | Used to sequence the separation between July 1 and December 8, 2025 |
| US holding | Ben & Jerry's Holdco, LLC | On the 100% owned subsidiary list, Note 23 |
| Operating company | Ben & Jerry's Homemade Inc | The original Vermont company, founded 1978 |
| Related entities | Ben & Jerry's Franchising Inc, Ben & Jerry's Gift Card LLC, Ben en Jerry's Hellendoorn B.V. (Netherlands), plus franchising entities in Australia and New Zealand | All wholly owned |
No founder, foundation or employee trust holds equity in Ben & Jerry's. Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield sold in 2000 and own none of it.
One detail worth flagging because it is in the filing itself: TMICC's substantial shareholder table lists Unilever PLC at 19.85%, while the corporate governance section of the same document describes Unilever as having a 19.95% shareholding. The 19.85% figure is the one tied to a dated AFM notification and a specific share count, so it is the one I have used.
Who else owns TMICC?
Ben & Jerry's ultimate owners are TMICC's shareholders. From the 20-F, as at February 27, 2026:
| Shareholder | Shares | Voting interest | Notification date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unilever PLC | 121,533,558 | 19.85% | December 8, 2025 |
| BlackRock Inc. | 25,965,010 | 4.24% | December 17, 2025 |
| Goldman Sachs Group Inc. | 20,026,031 | 3.27% | December 23, 2025 |
| FIL Limited | 19,894,021 | 3.25% | December 10, 2025 |
| Allan & Gill Gray Foundation | 19,674,251 | 3.21% | February 13, 2026 |
| Barclays Plc | 17,955,511 | 2.93% | December 22, 2025 |
| Bank of America Corporation | 17,565,194 | 2.87% | February 26, 2026 |
Unilever is the largest single holder by a wide margin, and it has a board seat: the 20-F names Reginaldo Ecclissato as the director representing Unilever, and states that he is the one non-independent non-executive director on the board.
Who controls Ben & Jerry's?
Ownership and control came apart here, which is the whole story.
When Unilever bought Ben & Jerry's in 2000 for $326 million, the merger agreement created an independent board with defined authority over the brand's social mission and brand integrity. Unilever owned the company; the independent board controlled what it said and what it stood for. That arrangement survived a 2022 lawsuit over the Israeli licensee and a 2024 lawsuit over Gaza.
It did not survive the demerger. After TMICC was created, new bylaws and director eligibility requirements were introduced, and the independent directors were removed through to January 1, 2026. TMICC now controls the brand the way a parent normally controls a subsidiary.
The litigation is the remaining check. In Ben & Jerry's Homemade, Inc. v. Conopco, Inc., filed November 13, 2024 in the Southern District of New York, Ben & Jerry's Homemade and the Class I directors of the independent board sued Conopco (Unilever's US entity) and Unilever PLC for breaching the merger agreement, a 2022 settlement agreement and a settlement amendment.
The portfolio: what else Magnum owns
Ben & Jerry's sits inside the world's largest ice cream company. The 20-F describes TMICC as home to four of the world's five largest ice cream brands, with €7.9 billion of 2025 revenue, 16,500 employees, 30 factories, 12 R&D centres and three million freezer cabinets.
| Brand | Origin, per the 20-F | Role in the portfolio |
|---|---|---|
| Breyers | Founded 1866 | US legacy volume |
| Wall's | Founded 1922 | International mass market umbrella |
| Popsicle | Founded 1923 | US legacy novelty |
| Cornetto | Founded 1959 | Global cone franchise |
| Ben & Jerry's | Founded 1978 | Premium pints and brand identity |
| Twister | Launched 1982 | Kids novelty |
| Magnum | Launched 1989 | Premium indulgence, and the group's namesake |
| Talenti | Acquired 2014 | US premium gelato |
| Yasso | Acquired 2023 | Better-for-you growth lane |
Brand-level revenue is not broken out in the 20-F, so anyone quoting a Ben & Jerry's revenue figure is estimating.
What changed in 2025 and 2026: the ownership history
This is the section that makes every older answer to this question wrong.
| Date | Event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| April 15, 2025 | The Magnum Ice Cream Company B.V. incorporated in the Netherlands ahead of the demerger | 20-F |
| July 1, 2025 | TMICC begins standalone operations, still inside Unilever | TMICC investor relations |
| September 2025 | Jerry Greenfield resigns after nearly 50 years, citing lost independence | Contemporaneous reporting |
| October 2, 2025 | Unilever shareholder circular published | TMICC investor relations |
| November 4, 2025 | US registration statement (Form 20FR12B) filed with the SEC | SEC EDGAR |
| December 6, 2025 | Demerger completed | TMICC investor relations |
| December 8, 2025 | Listing on Euronext Amsterdam, LSE and NYSE. Unilever notifies a 19.85% holding | 20-F, TMICC investor relations |
| December 2025 | The Ben & Jerry's Foundation moves to join the lawsuit after TMICC stops approved funding under the 2000 agreement | Court filings, reporting |
| January 1, 2026 | Independent board members removed under new eligibility rules | Court filings, reporting |
| March 18, 2026 | TMICC files its first annual report as a standalone company | SEC EDGAR |
| March 2026 | SDNY grants the Foundation's motion to join the case as a plaintiff | Court docket, reporting |
| April 2026 | Unilever registers its entire 121.6 million share stake for resale (Form F-1, then Form 424B4 on April 13) | SEC EDGAR |
| April to June 2026 | Ben Cohen publicly campaigns to buy the brand back at a $1.5B to $2B valuation, and threatens a boycott of Magnum's other brands | Contemporaneous reporting |
Two of those rows matter more than the rest. The April 2026 resale registration means Unilever has taken the formal step required to sell all 121.6 million shares, so the 19.85% is a ceiling that will fall. And the removal of the independent board means the governance structure that made Ben & Jerry's unusual among corporate-owned brands is, for now, gone.
Worth noting for balance: TMICC's own 20-F does not list the Ben & Jerry's litigation among its material contingent liabilities. Its disclosed contingent liabilities total €104 million and are mostly Brazilian tax assessments. Whatever the dispute means culturally, the company does not currently account for it as a material financial risk.
So who really owns Ben & Jerry's?
The Magnum Ice Cream Company, wholly, through a US holding company, with no founder equity and no independent board standing between the brand and its parent.
The honest complication is that TMICC itself has no controlling shareholder. Unilever at 19.85% is the largest holder and is on the way out. Below it sit index funds and banks in the 3% to 4% range. So Ben & Jerry's is owned by a widely held public company whose largest shareholder is a seller. That is a less stable arrangement than "Unilever owns it," and it is why the next eighteen months are genuinely open.
FAQ
Does Unilever still own Ben & Jerry's?
No. Unilever owns 19.85% of The Magnum Ice Cream Company, which owns Ben & Jerry's. That is a minority stake in the parent, not ownership of the brand, and Unilever has registered the whole stake for sale.
Is Ben & Jerry's still independent?
Not in ownership, and no longer in governance. It has been wholly owned since 2000, and the independent board that protected its social mission was removed through to January 1, 2026.
Do Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield own Ben & Jerry's?
No. They sold in 2000 for $326 million. Greenfield resigned in September 2025. Cohen is campaigning to buy the brand back but as of August 2026 has no ownership stake.
What company owns Ben & Jerry's now?
The Magnum Ice Cream Company N.V., listed on Euronext Amsterdam, the London Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange under MICC.
Is Ben & Jerry's being sold?
There is no announced sale. Ben Cohen has publicly called on Magnum to sell it to a values-aligned investor group and put the value at $1.5 billion to $2 billion. Magnum has not agreed to sell.
What I'm watching next
Unilever's sell-down. The April 2026 resale registration is the mechanism. Each tranche sold changes the shareholder register and removes the last structural tie to the old parent.
The SDNY case. A ruling on the merger agreement's board provisions would settle whether the governance protections have contractual force after a demerger, which is a question with reach well beyond ice cream.
Whether a buyer emerges. Cohen's campaign only becomes an ownership event if someone funds it and Magnum entertains it. Neither has happened yet.
Sources
1. Annual Report on Form 20-F 2025, The Magnum Ice Cream Company N.V. (filed March 18, 2026): SEC EDGAR filing. Establishes the substantial shareholder table (Unilever PLC at 121,533,558 shares and 19.85%), the Note 23 subsidiary list naming Ben & Jerry's Holdco LLC and Ben & Jerry's Homemade Inc as wholly owned, the April 15 2025 incorporation, the brand founding dates, the €7.9 billion revenue, and the €104 million contingent liability total.
2. Demerger information, The Magnum Ice Cream Company investor relations: TMICC investor relations. Establishes the dated separation timeline: standalone operations from July 1, 2025, demerger completion December 6, 2025, listing December 8, 2025.
3. Ben & Jerry's Homemade, Inc. v. Conopco, Inc. et al., No. 1:24-cv-08641-PKC (S.D.N.Y., filed November 13, 2024): Court docket. Establishes the parties, the claims under the 2000 merger agreement and the 2022 settlement, and the procedural history including the Foundation joining as a plaintiff.
4. SEC EDGAR filer record, Magnum Ice Cream Co N.V., CIK 0002071668: EDGAR submissions index. Establishes the NYSE ticker MICC and the filing history, including the Form F-1 of April 2, 2026 and the Form 424B4 of April 13, 2026 registering Unilever's shares for resale.
Updated August 2026: the parent company answer changed with the December 2025 demerger, and the independent board was removed in January 2026. Ownership figures are as of the February 27, 2026 shareholder table in the 20-F and will move as Unilever sells down.