Ben and Jerry
Ben & Jerry
1. Their mission statement included three dimensions; product, economic, and social. Their objectives were not always in harmony, however. They’ve had to sacrifice some objectives to meet others, for example they didn’t want to rice prices due to the fact they wanted to be a “ice cream for the people” company, but had to sacrifice the social objective in order to stay in business. Of their three mission statement objectives, their social consciousness seems to be their leading objective. Ben & Jerry donates 7.5% of their pretax earnings to charities and foundations.
Bidder Offer
Dreyer’s Grand $31(stock)
Unilever $36(cash)
Meadowbrook Lane $32(cash)
Chartwell Minority Interest, $30-50M
2. Increased competitive pressure and Ben & Jerry’s declining financial performance triggered number of takeover offers.
3.
I think that the current takeover offers are justifiable. The pre-offer announcement share prices were $21 per share. The price per share as of November 1999 was $25. The worth to the bidders is in the brand name of Ben & Jerry, and in the eyes on the ice cream consumers, Ben & Jerry’s is a respectable brand. Given that the sales per-share were $31.34, their bids are in line with that. The EPS is $1.06 per-share.
Morgan should support one of the acquisition offers. The company in recent years hasn’t done as well, and some of the offers are very intriguing. They are overpaying in comparison to the pre-offer share price of $21 per share, and in the likely event that Ben & Jerry’s can survive on its own, its best to take one of the offers and merge with a company who may have better advantages. Its his job to look out for the shareholder and not the
1. Their mission statement included three dimensions; product, economic, and social. Their objectives were not always in harmony, however. They’ve had to sacrifice some objectives to meet others, for example they didn’t want to rice prices due to the fact they wanted to be a “ice cream for the people” company, but had to sacrifice the social objective in order to stay in business. Of their three mission statement objectives, their social consciousness seems to be their leading objective. Ben & Jerry donates 7.5% of their pretax earnings to charities and foundations.
Bidder Offer
Dreyer’s Grand $31(stock)
Unilever $36(cash)
Meadowbrook Lane $32(cash)
Chartwell Minority Interest, $30-50M
2. Increased competitive pressure and Ben & Jerry’s declining financial performance triggered number of takeover offers.
3.
I think that the current takeover offers are justifiable. The pre-offer announcement share prices were $21 per share. The price per share as of November 1999 was $25. The worth to the bidders is in the brand name of Ben & Jerry, and in the eyes on the ice cream consumers, Ben & Jerry’s is a respectable brand. Given that the sales per-share were $31.34, their bids are in line with that. The EPS is $1.06 per-share.
Morgan should support one of the acquisition offers. The company in recent years hasn’t done as well, and some of the offers are very intriguing. They are overpaying in comparison to the pre-offer share price of $21 per share, and in the likely event that Ben & Jerry’s can survive on its own, its best to take one of the offers and merge with a company who may have better advantages. Its his job to look out for the shareholder and not the