Ben & Jerry's Co-founder Steps Down Over Unilever Curbs on Speech

Jerry Greenfield, cofounder of Ben & Jerry's, said he has stepped away from the ice cream maker after nearly 50 years, saying on Wednesday he could no longer work for a company whose independence to speak on social issues has been curtailed by its parent company Unilever. Greenfield announced his departure in an open letter shared by fellow cofounder Ben Cohen, accusing Unilever of silencing Ben & Jerry's and saying the decision was "one of the hardest and most painful" he has made.

Greenfield, who wrote that he had been an employee for 47 years in the letter posted on the Free Ben & Jerry's campaign website, said the brand's ability to stand up for causes it believes in has been undermined despite a merger agreement negotiated when Unilever bought the company in 2000 to protect its social mission. "If the company couldn't stand up for the things we believed, then it wasn't worth being a company at all," he wrote. He said the unique merger agreement that established an independent board to oversee Ben & Jerry's social mission had been eroded.

Ben Cohen, sharing Greenfield's message on social media, said Greenfield had made the "difficult decision to step down" and that "his...