Ben & Jerry's Homemade

Abstract

This case examines issues of asset control for Ben & Jerry's Homemade, Inc., in light of the outstanding takeover offers by Chartwell Investments, Dreyer's Grand, Unilever, and Meadowbrook Lane Capital in January 2000. The case reviews the development of Ben & Jerry's strong social consciousness and the takeover-defense mechanisms that maintain management's control on company assets. Students, in the role of outside board members, are invited to review management's performance, estimate the economic cost of its social agenda, and evaluate the implications of takeover defense strategies.

Excerpt

UVA-F-1364

Rev. May 1, 2015

Ben & Jerry's Homemade

Jerry: What's interesting about me and my role in the company is I'm just this guy on the street. A person who's fairly conventional, mainstream, accepting of life as it is.

Ben: Salt of the earth. A man of the people.

Jerry: But then I've got this friend, Ben, who challenges everything. It's against his nature to do anything the same way anyone's ever done it before. To which my response is always, “I don't think that'll work.”

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Keywords: takeovers, corporate objectives, asset control, corporate valuation, multiples