Ben & Jerry’s bitter battle with Unilever
FT News Briefing
Forhecz Topher
4.4 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 12 August 2022
⏱️ 11 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
US lawmakers are set to pass a $700bn spending bill, activity on European corporate bond markets has slowed to a near standstill and US initial public offerings have ground to a halt. Plus, Ben & Jerry’s is in a legal battle with parent company Unilever over sales in the disputed West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Mentioned in this podcast:
Corporate lawyers take it easy as US IPO market dries up
Unilever stops paying Ben & Jerry’s board members in Israel dispute
The FT News Briefing is produced by Fiona Symon, Sonja Hutson and Marc Filippino. The show’s editor is Jess Smith. Additional help by Peter Barber, Michael Lello, David da Silva and Gavin Kallmann. Topher Forhecz is the FT’s executive producer. The FT’s global head of audio is Cheryl Brumley. The show’s theme song is by Metaphor Music.
Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The FT News Briefing is supported by Equinole, the UK's energy partner. |
| 0:06.3 | Learn more at equinole.co.uk |
| 0:09.9 | Good morning from the Financial Times. Today is Friday, August 12th, |
| 0:13.3 | and this is your FT News Briefing. |
| 0:18.4 | US lawmakers are set to hand Joe Biden a legislative victory today. |
| 0:22.8 | Europe's corporate bond market is in a chill, and speaking of cold, things have gotten frosty |
| 0:28.4 | between a famous ice cream maker and its corporate parent. |
| 0:31.8 | And there has been an almost total breakdown of relations between |
| 0:35.8 | Unilever and the board of Ben and Jerry's. |
| 0:38.8 | I'm Mark Filipino, and here's the news you need to start your day. |
| 0:49.6 | Today, US lawmakers in the House of Representatives are set to approve a |
| 0:53.4 | $700 billion package focused on the climate, |
| 0:56.4 | healthcare, and taxes. It would be a major victory for President Joe Biden and his Democratic |
| 1:01.9 | Party. The bill is called the Inflation Reduction Act, and it would boost funding for clean energy. |
| 1:07.2 | Plus, it would allow the government to negotiate the price of certain drugs. |
| 1:10.8 | It would also establish new taxes for corporations and increase funding to beef up tax enforcement. |
| 1:17.4 | It's August and Europeans are on long summer holidays. |
| 1:27.6 | Americans are squeaking out some summer vacation too, |
| 1:30.6 | which means corporate deal-making on both sides of the Atlantic is slow. |
| 1:35.4 | But this summer, it's slower than usual. To talk about why I'm joined by the FT's |
| 1:39.8 | markets editor, Katie Martin, she joins us pretty much every Friday. Hey, Katie. |
| 1:44.2 | Hey, how you going? I'm doing all right. Katie, let's start with the slowdown in Europe. |
... |
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