The Magnum Ice Cream Company

History

Early history

Prior to the heart logo, the ice cream brands had different logos, often consisting of a blue circle with the local brand's name over a background of five vertical red stripes. Uses of this logo reach back to the 1960s. Though it was not universally used for all the countries listed above (Wall's in the UK, for example, used a yellow logo with Wall's in blue text), while many brands were shared across different countries.

The Heartbrand was launched in 1998 as an effort to increase international brand awareness and promote cross-border synergies in manufacturing and marketing ("centralisation"). It featured a red curved heart on a yellow background and was designed by Carter Wong Design. The updated brand was promoted with a Europe-wide marketing campaign and a cooperation with the US cable television channel MTV.

In early 2003 the symbol itself was simplified by replacing the yellow shades with white. The blue script lettering for the local names was abandoned in favour of a simpler all-caps sans-serif font.

Around 2006, Unilever was the world's biggest ice cream manufacturer, with an annual turnover of €5 billion and invested around €50 million annually in ice-cream research and development. Unilever operated eleven ice cream factories in Europe; the biggest included factories at Heppenheim in Germany, Caivano in Italy, Saint-Dizier in France, and Gloucester in the United Kingdom.

Formation of The Magnum Ice Cream Company

The company became an independent subsidiary of Unilever on 1 July 2025 by a demerger. Following the announcement on 19 March 2024 to create a separate stand-alone business, the several major ice cream brands owned by Unilever, such as Magnum, Ben & Jerry's, Cornetto, Breyers, Calippo, and Wall's, were combined into the Magnum Ice Cream Company as a stand-alone company, with headquarters in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Unilever deemed the demerger of ice cream division necessary as ice cream has distinct characteristics compared with Unilever's other operating businesses, including frozen supply chain and point of sale that support frozen goods, a different channel landscape, more seasonality, and greater capital intensity and allows Unilever to more closely align with its core businesses in four categories; personal care, home care, beauty & wellbeing and foods.

The Magnum Ice Cream Company is predicted to have about 21% of the world's ice cream sales.

Dispute with Ben and Jerry's

In September 2025 after the Magnum Ice Cream Company had demerged from Unilever, Ben & Jerry's cofounder, Ben Cohen, protested in London, demanding to "free Ben & Jerry's", which he and his fellow cofounder, Jerry Greenfield, said was necessary to protect the long-held social values of Ben & Jerry's. The new CEO of Magnum, Peter ter Kulve, however, stated that Ben & Jerry's would not be sold because it was fully integrated into the Magnum Ice Cream Company. Later in September, Greenfield resigned from the company in protest that Unilever and the Magnum Ice Cream Company were inhibiting the independence of Ben & Jerry's to have a voice on social issues.

Listings

The company was listed for trading with an initial public offering on the Amsterdam, London, and New York stock exchanges and an initial market value of $9.1 billion on 8 December 2025.

Brands

The Magnum Ice Cream Company utilises the "Heartbrand" inherited from Unilever's ice cream division. Unilever revealed the spin-off ice cream division's name in March 2025. Following the reveal, Peter ter Kulve, President of Unilever's ice cream business stated "The Magnum Ice Cream Company has an iconic and globally recognised portfolio of brands including Magnum, Wall’s, Ben & Jerry’s, and Cornetto. Magnum is an extremely successful and beloved brand. It will bring our full portfolio together, with our Wall’s heart icon beating right in the centre of our logo".

Heartbrand

The Heartbrand was designed by London-based Carter Wong & Partners and revealed in 1998 by Unilever for many of its ice cream brands across the world. When it was announced it would affect Wall's in the United Kingdom, Unilever described the new logo, that initially featured a pair of red and yellow intertwining hearts, to be more representative of "feelings of happiness associated with sharing Wall's ice cream with family and friends" throughout the year. The rebranding in the UK involved 100,000 ice cream outlets. Unilever originally called it the Heart. They re-launched the logo in 2003.

By 2019, brands using the logo were sold by Unilever in over 40 countries. Most of Unilever's brands had used it, including Wall's (United Kingdom), Algida (Italy), Langnese (Germany), Kibon (Brazil) and Ola (Netherlands). While Popsicle, Klondike bar, Breyers and Ben & Jerry's had not used the Heartbrand under Unilever.

The company was formed out of Unilever's ice cream division, which included the following:

Regional

The majority of the company's ice-creams are sold under the Heartbrand brand, with each region using a different name:

Former Unilever-owned brands

Helados La Fuente – ice cream (Colombia; until 2001, when Unilever's ice cream business was sold to Meals de Colombia, the owner of Crem Helado)

Bresler – ice cream (Chile; until 2020, when Unilever's ice cream business in Chile was sold to Carozzi; the transfer also included the Melevi brand. A license agreement allows Carozzi to use The Magnum Ice Cream Company's brands in Chile)

Inmarko (Инмарко) – ice cream (Russia; until 2024, when Unilever's entire Russian business was transferred to the multinational company Arnest Group, which operates in Russia)

Tío Rico – helados (Venezuela; until 2025, when Unilever's ice cream business in Venezuela was sold to Mack de Venezuela)