London-based Unilever is spinning off its ice cream business, including the South Burlington-based Ben & Jerry’s.

The company announced on Tuesday that ice cream will become a “standalone, world-leading” enterprise but offered few other details of what lies ahead for that $8 billion portion of its business which, along with Ben & Jerry’s, includes the ice cream companies Wall's and Magnum.
In a statement on its website, Unilever said it plans to focus on its four remaining divisions: beauty and well-being, personal care, home care, and nutrition.

“Ice Cream has a very different operating model, and as a result the Board has decided that the separation of Ice Cream best serves the future growth of both Ice Cream and Unilever,” the statement said.



Ben & Jerry’s spokesperson Sean Greenwood did not return messages on Tuesday.

Founded in 1978, Ben & Jerry’s is an influential institution that last year employed 650 people in Vermont and the Netherlands. Its Waterbury visitors' center has drawn as many as 350,000 tourists annually in recent years, making it one of Vermont's most popular attractions.

Ben & Jerry's made headlines when it became a wholly owned subsidiary of Unilever in 2000 for $326 million. It retained its independent board and continued to take progressive positions on social issues such as racial justice, campaign finance reform and gun control.

Ben & Jerry’s makes ice cream at its factories in Waterbury, St. Albans and the Netherlands, as well as at an independently owned factory in Israel. It sells its premium ice cream in 35 countries, Greenwood said last year.