The Globalization of Ben & Jerry's

Dutch consumer products giant Unilever, maker of such products as Dove soap, Lipton tea, Breyers ice cream, Ragu spaghetti sauce, Colmans annoyingly hot English mustard, Close-up toothpaste, and Caustic Polypropylene*, has bought Ben & Jerry's ice cream for about $326 million.

In another transaction, the company also picked up diet foods manufacturer SlimFast Foods Group.

Ben and Jerry themselves had long since withdrawn from day-to-day operations of the company, but they said Unilever's management promised to keep up the socially responsible policies that they first put in place at the Vermont-based confectionary. Some reports, however, say that the global megacorporation is only committed to maintaining these policies for a period of two years. In a sign of what may be to come, the company has already withdrawn its sponsorship of the Newport Folk Festival.

Don't forget Ben & Jerry's Worldwide Free Cone Day, April 18. It may be one of the last.

* Note: just kidding about the Caustic Polypropylene.