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The Vermont-based ice cream maker's co-founder Jerry Greenfield has parted ways from the iconic brand after almost five decades, as stated by a message from his business partner Ben Cohen.

The announcement shared what he described as a message from Greenfield, in which the departing executive labeled it one of the “toughest and difficult decisions” of his life.

Greenfield asserted that the organization had been silenced by Unilever and that its autonomy to address social causes was now “gone.”

“Unless the business was willing to advocate for the things we cared about, then it wasn’t worth being a company at all,” he said.

The decision came even after a merger agreement meant to protect the company’s ethical commitments, Greenfield added.

“This autonomy existed in no small part because of the special acquisition terms” which both founders had arranged with Unilever, Greenfield wrote.

The ice cream maker and its parent firm did not immediately respond to a media inquiry from the news agency.

Last week, Cohen revealed that amid disagreements with the parent company, the brand had tried to arrange a transfer to investors at a reasonable price of $1.5bn–$2.5bn, but the offer was rejected.

Unilever and the ice cream brand have been at odds since at least 2021, when the ice-cream maker said it would halt sales in the contested West Bank. The brand has also sued its owner over accusations to restrain it and has called the situation in Gaza “genocide.”