Ben Cohen is an American businessman, activist, and entrepreneur, with a net worth of $150 million. Cohen is best known as a co-founder (with Jerry Greenfield) of the Vermont-based ice cream firm Ben & Jerry’s. They founded Ben & Jerry’s with $8,000 in savings and a $4,000 bank loan.

Since founding their first store in the late 1970s, Ben & Jerry’s has grown to over 600 locations. Today, Ben & Jerry’s earns approximately $700 million per year. Unilever, the food behemoth, paid $326 million to buy the company in 2000. At that time, annual earnings were $237 million.

Who is Ben Cohen?

Ben Cohen was born Bennett Cohen on March 18, 1951, in New York City. He was raised in a Jewish household in Merrick, New York, with his mother Frances and father Irving (an accountant), and he attended Buck’s Rock Performing and Creative Arts Camp in Connecticut. Ben met Jerry Greenfield in gym class in seventh school, and they both went to Sanford H. Calhoun High. As a senior, Cohen worked as an ice cream man. After graduating from high school, Ben enrolled at Colgate University in Hamilton, New York, but dropped out in 1972, and Greenfield later moved in with him.

Cohen formerly worked as a cab driver, McDonald’s cashier, ER clerk, and Pinkerton guard before becoming a craft instructor at Highland Community School. Around this time, he started learning how to manufacture ice cream, and in 1978, Ben and Jerry attended an ice cream-making class at Pennsylvania State University.

Cohen quit as CEO of the company in 1996 and has not been actively connected with Ben & Jerry’s since Unilever bought it for $326 million in 2000. He is affiliated with the Ben & Jerry’s Foundation, a social justice organization founded to “fund organizations here in Vermont and around the country that are working for progressive social change.”

Ben and Jerry were selected U.S. Small company Persons of the Year by the Small Business Administration in 1988, and the New York Open Center recognized Cohen in 2000 for his “leadership in pioneering socially responsible business.”

Ben and Jerry have released two books: “Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book” (1987) and “Ben & Jerry’s Double Dip: How to Run a Values-Led Business and Make Money Too” (1997).

How old is Ben Cohen?

He is currently 72 years old.

What is Ben Cohen’s net worth?

He is estimated to be worth $150 Million.

What is Ben Cohen career?

Cohen and Greenfield established Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Ice Cream Parlor in May 1978. Their initial site was in Burlington, Vermont, a college town without an ice cream shop. They had planned to create a bagel store together, but when they realized the equipment was prohibitively expensive, they opted to focus on ice cream instead. Cohen and Greenfield invested $4,000 each to establish the business, and they also received a $4,000 bank loan. Ben & Jerry’s began selling pints of ice cream in grocery stores in 1980, and the company was valued at $30 million by 1987.

The first Ben & Jerry’s franchise opened in Shelburne, Vermont, in 1981, and there were 615 outlets as of 2019. The company’s flavors include Cherry Garcia, Half Baked, Chunky Monkey, Stephen Colbert’s AmeriCone Dream, and Phish Food, and its ingredients are non-GMO, fairtrade certified, and sourced from Certified Humane cage-free farms.

In 2021, Cohen spoke to “Delish” about Ben & Jerry’s commitment to activism, noting, “The traditional business model is screwed the consumer, spend a lot of money on advertising and PR to make yourself look good, and keep going.” Ben & Jerry’s suggests that instead of focusing on appearances, it’s better to simply be excellent. We’ve gotten consumers to buy and love ice cream more because they share the principles of the folks who create it. “There is no stronger relationship.”