Background: Unilever has long owned some of the world’s biggest ice cream names: Streets, Cornetto, Ben & Jerry’s and Magnum - generating nearly €8 billionfrom frozen desserts. But those brands have been sitting inside the same company that also sells Dove, Rexona and Vaseline.

What happened: Now, Unilever is carving out its entire ice cream division and launching it as a standalone business: the Magnum Ice Cream Company. It will liston the Euronext Amsterdam, the London Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange, with Unilever keeping a 20% minority stake during the transition.

What else: Once the separation is complete, Magnum becomes a major global player in its own right, controlling more than 20% of the world’s ice cream market... effectively stepping into the category as its own powerhouse.

What's the key learning?

💡A company spinoff is when a big company takes one part of the business and turns it into a separate, independent company. That means it will have its own leadership, company name and shareholders.

💡The challenge for Unilever is that ice cream and personal care don’t really mix well from a business standpoint. They rely on different supply chains, customer behaviour and growth strategies. So separating them gives both sides a clearer runway to operate and innovate.

💡Spinoffs are veeeery common in public markets. Remember when eBay’s split from PayPal in 2015...with a LOT of financial growth and success? Well now, investors will be watching to see whether Magnum can follow a similar trajectory as it steps out on its own.