05:48 AM EDT, 04/03/2025 (MT Newswires) -- (Updates with Unilever's ( UL ) response in the fourth paragraph and stock price move in the last para.)

Unilever ( UL ) was asked by Ben & Jerry's ( UL ) co-founder Ben Cohen to set the brand free amid the company's plans to spin off its ice cream assets, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

"In the year 2000, Unilever ( UL ) loved us for who we were. Now we've gone separate ways in our relationship. We just need them to set us free," the Journal quoted Cohen as saying.

The report said that Cohen, who started the ice cream company in 1978 with Jerry Greenfield, is working to find investors to buy Ben & Jerry's ( UL ) from Unilever ( UL ) as the consumer goods company prepares to either sell the brand or list its ice cream business.

"Ben & Jerry's ( UL ), as a key part of the demerging ice cream business, is not for sale," a Unilever ( UL ) spokesperson said in a statement e-mailed to MT Newswires.

The company's shares were up 1.9% in recent premarket activity Thursday.

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