Earlier this year, Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Unilever) decided that “it is inconsistent with our values for Ben & Jerry’s ice cream to be sold in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT).” They stopped selling. States with anti-BDS laws are taking notice.
Unilever’s global gross sales in 2020 were just under 58 billion. The Ben-n-Jerry brand hauled in 863 million in 2020. Not small change, but it is only 1.48% of the Unilever whole.
Is Unilever concerned?
States and their retirement funds invest hundreds of millions in companies like Unilever, and if those states have anti-BDS laws on the books, they can choose to disinvest in companies engaged in BDS.
Thirty-five states in the US have such laws, and at least eight of those (so far) have said they have or will be dumping Unilever stock in response to the Ben & Jerry’s boycott.
Excerpts from Geller Report.com
- New York State, which has just announced, on Oct. 29, that it will disinvest its pension fund of all of its Unilever stock, worth $114 million.
- Florida on Tuesday [Oct. 26] restricted the state and local governments from buying new investments in Unilever.
- New Jersey has now committed to disinvestment of all of the $182 million in Unilever stock it currently possesses
- Arizona in mid-September became the first state to divest all of its Unilever securities– $143 million worth.
- Texas has notified Unilever about its inclusion on a list of companies violating the state’s ban on boycotts of Israel. ($100 million)
- Illinois has begun to divest about $180 million in Unilever stock from its state pension fund.
- Maryland and Rhode Island are now actively considering whether to divest, and both are expected to do so within in the next few months.
Several other states are considering similar moves. To the best of my knowledge, New Hampshire does not have any such laws on the books, but our Democrat Congress-critters voted against one in DC.
Is it worth it to Unilever to swat that fly, or are they content to let Ben &Jerry’s be Ben & Jerry’s and take whatever financial hit – if any – this produces?
At this point, the decision has been to let it ride. I guess we’ll have to wait and see if all 35 states start moving to divest from Unilever and if that might get their attention.
