Ben And Jerry S Unilever
Ben & Jerry’s Homemade – The Unilever Scoop Case
With four offers on the table, Ben & Jerry’s had quite the decision to make. When it came down to it, they chose the most attractive offer which turned out to be with Unilever. As time passed, this was shown to ultimately be a very wise choice as the financial results would later show impressive results. These impressive results could be seen by looking at how the operating margins tripled and were able to maintain a 700M operating profit in succeeding years after the merger (starting in 2002), operations expanded into 13 new countries, and that their sales reached a notable $417.9 million. Put this together with the fact that Unilever let Ben & Jerry’s continue to operate as an independent subsidiary and continue a majority of their social agenda, this was a successful merger for Ben & Jerry’s. From a Unilever’s perspective, it proved to be just as lucrative. Investors in Unilever has grown uneasy for some time with Unilever and had been pressuring them to grow. This was partly solved when Unilever finally acquired Ben & Jerry’s (And around 20 other companies at that time) and was able to grow Ben & Jerry’s internationally and increase its company’s value to its investors. All said and done, this was a very successful merger for both parties despite a few integration problems that will be discussed in the following analysis.
First off it should be mentioned that Ben & Jerry was able to continue their social contributions. They were able to stay in Vermont, continue to buy non-BGH diary goods from Vermont supplies, and continue to have their free cones day. Unilever even helped start a Ben & Jerry’s foundation that would help fund businesses in low-income communities. All this was in the result of Ben & Jerry’s company culture and the employee’s attitudes. One impact from this was that the employees were quite “playful.” This led to the first integration problem when Unilever implanted its own executive, Yves
With four offers on the table, Ben & Jerry’s had quite the decision to make. When it came down to it, they chose the most attractive offer which turned out to be with Unilever. As time passed, this was shown to ultimately be a very wise choice as the financial results would later show impressive results. These impressive results could be seen by looking at how the operating margins tripled and were able to maintain a 700M operating profit in succeeding years after the merger (starting in 2002), operations expanded into 13 new countries, and that their sales reached a notable $417.9 million. Put this together with the fact that Unilever let Ben & Jerry’s continue to operate as an independent subsidiary and continue a majority of their social agenda, this was a successful merger for Ben & Jerry’s. From a Unilever’s perspective, it proved to be just as lucrative. Investors in Unilever has grown uneasy for some time with Unilever and had been pressuring them to grow. This was partly solved when Unilever finally acquired Ben & Jerry’s (And around 20 other companies at that time) and was able to grow Ben & Jerry’s internationally and increase its company’s value to its investors. All said and done, this was a very successful merger for both parties despite a few integration problems that will be discussed in the following analysis.
First off it should be mentioned that Ben & Jerry was able to continue their social contributions. They were able to stay in Vermont, continue to buy non-BGH diary goods from Vermont supplies, and continue to have their free cones day. Unilever even helped start a Ben & Jerry’s foundation that would help fund businesses in low-income communities. All this was in the result of Ben & Jerry’s company culture and the employee’s attitudes. One impact from this was that the employees were quite “playful.” This led to the first integration problem when Unilever implanted its own executive, Yves