The story
Founded by James Darcy Lever, Samuel van den Bergh and William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme on Sep 2, 1929, in London.1
1930–1940
Unilever was formed by a merger of Dutch Margarine Unie and British soapmaker Lever Brothers in 1930, with the name of Unilever a blend word of the name of both companies.
In the 1930s, the business grew, and new ventures were launched in Africa and Latin America. During this time, Unilever acquired the United Africa Company, created from a merger of the African & Eastern Trade Corporation and the Royal Niger Company, which oversaw British trade interests in present-day Nigeria during the colonial era.
The Nazi occupation of Europe during the Second World War meant that Unilever was unable to reinvest its capital into Europe, so it instead acquired new businesses in the United Kingdom and the United States.
In 1943, it acquired T. J. Lipton, a majority stake in Frosted Foods (owner of the Birds Eye brand in the United Kingdom) and Batchelors Peas, one of the largest vegetables canners in the United Kingdom. In 1944, Pepsodent was acquired.
In 1933, Unilever Indonesia was established in December as Lever Zeepfabrieken N.V. and had operations in Cikarang, West Java at Rungkut, East Java and North Sumatra.
1941–1960
After 1945, Unilever's American businesses (Lever Brothers and T.J. Lipton) began to decline. As a result, Unilever began to operate a "hands-off" policy towards the subsidiaries and left American management to its own devices.
Sunsilk was first launched in the United Kingdom in 1954. Dove was first launched in the US in 1957. Unilever took full ownership of Frosted Foods in 1957, which it renamed Birds Eye. The US-based Good Humor ice cream business was acquired in 1961. By the mid-1960s, laundry soap and edible fats still contributed around half of Unilever's corporate profits. However, a stagnant market for yellow fats (butter, margarine, and similar products) and increasing competition in detergents and soaps from Procter & Gamble forced Unilever to diversify. In 1971, Unilever acquired the British-based Lipton Ltd from Allied Suppliers. In 1978, National Starch was acquired for $487 million, marking the largest ever foreign-acquisition of a US company at that point.
1961–1980
By the end of the 1970s through acquisitions, Unilever had gained 30 per cent of the Western European ice cream market. In 1982, Unilever management decided to reposition itself from an unwieldy conglomerate to a more concentrated fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) company.
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In 1984, Unilever acquired Brooke Bond (maker of PG Tips tea) for £390 million in the company's first successful takeover. In 1986, Unilever strengthened its position in the world skin care market by acquiring Ponds (merged from Chesebrough Manufacturing and Pond's Creams), the maker of Ragú, Pond's, Aqua-Net, Cutex, and Vaseline in another hostile takeover. In 1989, Unilever bought Calvin Klein Cosmetics, Fabergé, and Elizabeth Arden, but the latter was later sold (in 2000) to FFI Fragrances.
1981–2000
In 1992, Unilever Ghana was established in July following a merger of UAC Ghana Limited and Lever Brothers Ghana Limited.
In 1993, Unilever acquired Breyers from Kraft, which made the company the largest ice cream manufacturer in the United States. In the same year, it acquired the Isaly Klondike Company, makers of Klondike bar, and Popsicle Industries.
In 1996, Unilever merged Elida Gibbs and Lever Brothers in its UK operations. It also purchased Helene Curtis, significantly expanding its presence in the United States shampoo and deodorant market. The purchase brought Unilever the Suave and Finesse hair-care product brands and Degree deodorant brand.
In 1997, Unilever sold its speciality chemicals division, including National Starch & Chemical, Quest, Unichema and Crosfield to Imperial Chemical Industries for £4.9 billion.
In 1998, Unilever established a sustainable agriculture programme.
In 2000, Unilever acquired the boutique mustard retailer Maille, Ben & Jerry's and SlimFast for £1.63 billion, Bestfoods for £13.4 billion. The Bestfoods acquisition increased Unilever's scale in foods in America, and added brands including Knorr, Marmite, Bovril, and Hellmann's to its portfolio. In exchange for European regulatory approval of the deal, Unilever divested itself of Oxo, Lesieur, McDonnells, Bla Band, Royco, and Batchelors.
2001–2010
In 2001, Unilever split into two divisions: one for foods and one for home and personal care. In the United Kingdom, it merged its Lever Brothers and Elida Fabergé businesses as Lever Fabergé in January 2001.
In 2003, Unilever announced the sale of the Dalda brand in both India and Pakistan. In 2003, Bunge Limited acquired the Dalda brand from Hindustan Unilever Limited for reportedly under Rs. 1 billion. On 30 March 2004, Unilever Pakistan accepted an offer of Rs. 1.33 billion for the sale of its Dalda brand and related business of edible oils and fats to the newly incorporated company Dalda Foods (Pvt.) Limited.
In 2002, the company sold its speciality oils and fats division, known as Loders Croklaan, for RM814 million (€218.5 million) to IOI Corporation, a Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia–based oil palm company. As part of the deal, the Loders Croklaan name was maintained. Unilever sold the brands Mazola, Argo & Kingsfords, Karo, Golden Griddle, and Henri's, along with several of its Canadian brands, to ACH Food Companies, an American subsidiary of Associated British Foods.
In 2004, Unilever Bangladesh, established in 1964, changed its former name Lever Brothers Bangladesh Ltd to its present name in December. It is owned 60.4% by Unilever and 39.6% by the Government of Bangladesh.
In 2007, Unilever partnered with Rainforest Alliance to sustainably source all its tea.
In 2009, Unilever agreed to acquire the personal care business of Sara Lee Corporation, including brands such as Radox, Badedas and Duschdas. The Sara Lee acquisition was completed on 6 December 2010.
In 2010, Unilever acquired the Diplom-Is in Denmark, Unilever announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement to sell its consumer tomato products business in Brazil to Cargill, purchased Alberto-Culver, a maker of personal care and household products including Simple, VO5, Nexxus, TRESemmé, and Mrs. Dash, for US$3.7 billion. acquired EVGA's ice cream brands, which included Scandal, Variete and Karabola, and its distribution network in Greece, for an undisclosed amount.
2011–2020
In 2012, Unilever announced it would phase out the use of microplastics in the form of microbeads in their personal care products by 2015.
In 2014, Unilever agreed to acquire a majority stake in the China-based water purification company Qinyuan for an undisclosed price, acquired Talenti Gelato & Sorbetto, acquired Camay brand globally and the Zest brand outside of North America and the Caribbean from Procter & Gamble.
In 2015, Unilever acquired British niche skincare brand REN Skincare, This was followed in May 2015 by the acquisition of Kate Somerville Skincare. The company also acquired the Italian premium ice cream maker GROM for an undisclosed amount. Unilever also separated its food spreads business, including its Flora and I Can't Believe It's Not Butter! brands, into a standalone entity named Unilever Baking, Cooking and Spreading. The separation was first announced in December 2014 and was made in response to declining worldwide sales in that product category.
Unilever bought the United States–based startup company Dollar Shave Club for a reported $1 billion (£764 million) to compete in the male grooming market. On 16 August 2016, Unilever acquired Blueair, a Swedish supplier of mobile indoor air purification technologies. In July 2024, Blueair received a warning letter from the Federal Trade Commission concerning warranty restrictions related to use of certain replacement filters. In September 2016, Unilever acquired Seventh Generation Inc. for $700 million. On 16 December 2016, Unilever acquired Living Proof Inc, a hair care products business.
In 2017, significantly smaller Kraft Heinz made a $143-billion bid for Unilever. The deal was declined by Unilever. On 20 April 2017, Unilever acquired Sir Kensington's, a New York–based condiment maker. On 15 May 2017, the company acquired the personal care and home care brands of Quala, a Latin American consumer goods company. In June, the company acquired Hourglass, a colour cosmetics brand. In July, the company then announced that it had acquired the organic herbal tea business, Pukka Herbs. In September 2017, Unilever acquired Weis, an Australian ice cream business. Later that month Unilever acquired Remgro's interest in Unilever South Africa in exchange for the Unilever South Africa spreads business plus cash consideration. Even later that month, Unilever agreed to acquire Carver Korea, a skincare business brand of AHC in Northeast Asia, for $2.7 billion. In October 2017, Unilever acquired Brazilian natural and organic food business Mãe Terra. In November, Unilever announced an agreement to acquire the Tazo speciality tea brand from Starbucks. Later in November 2017, the company acquired Sundial Brands, a skincare company. In December 2017, Unilever acquired Schmidt's Naturals, a US natural deodorant and soap company. In December 2017, Unilever sold its margarine and spreads division to investment firm KKR for €6.8 billion. The sale was completed in July 2018, and the new company was named Upfield. Upfield's notable brands include Flora, Stork, I Can't Believe It's Not Butter, Rama, Country Crock, Becel, and Blue Band.
Unilever announced that to help tackle the global COVID-19 pandemic, it would contribute over €100 million through donations of soap, hand sanitiser, bleach and food.
Since 2021
In April 2021, Unilever established a new stand-alone beauty business, Elida Beauty, which will own and manage the following brands: Brut, Brylcreem, Timotei, Q-tips, Noxema, TIGI, VO5, Toni & Guy, Matey, Moussel, Monsavon, Impulse, St Ives, Alberto Balsam, Badedas, Fissan, Pento, Pond's, Careess, Lever 2000, Williams, Elida, and Alberto.
In August 2021, Florida governor Ron DeSantis placed Unilever on a list of "Scrutinized Companies that Boycott Israel" because it had "no current plan to prevent Ben & Jerry's from terminating business activities in Israeli-controlled territories". The ice-cream brand has 90 days to stop engaging in "the BDS movement", or the state will no longer contract with the parent company Unilever or any of its subsidiaries.
In November 2021, Unilever agreed to sell most of its tea business under the Ekaterra division to investment firm CVC Capital Partners for €4.5 billion. This deal excluded the Unilever tea business in India, Indonesia and Nepal, and the Lipton Ice Tea joint-venture with PepsiCo. The deal was completed in summer 2022.
In December 2023, Unilever announced the company would sell Elida Beauty to Yellow Wood Partners, a private equity firm in the United States.
In March 2024, Unilever announced plans to spin off its ice cream unit, which makes among others, brands such as Magnum and Ben & Jerry's, into a standalone business starting in March 2024 and planned to complete by the end of 2025. The announcement was part of a cost-savings programme that would cut 7,500 jobs. In February 2025, Unilever announced that the ice cream unit would list on the Amsterdam stock market. The ice cream unit, later known as The Magnum Ice Cream Company, completed the demerger in November 2025.
In December 2024, the company announced the sale of food brand Unox and Zwan to Zwanenberg Food Group with the deal expected to be completed in 2026.
In June 2025, Unilever announced the acquisition of Dr. Squatch, an American personal care brand, for $1.5 billion from Summit Partners. The deal remains subject to regulatory and shareholder approval.
In March 2026, Unilever agreed to combine most of the remainder of its food business with spice maker McCormick & Company, creating a new sauces-to-spices company valued at more than $65 billion. Unilever shareholders were expected to own approximately 65% of the new company, and Unilever would also receive a one-time $15.7 billion cash payment. The deal excluded Unilever's food and tea businesses in India, Indonesia and Nepal, the Lipton Ice Tea joint-venture with PepsiCo, its Lifestyle Nutrition business, its Buavita business and the Colman's mustard manufacturer. The latter was originally part of the sale but it would be sold separately to avoid anti-competition issues.
From Wikipedia’s article on Unilever, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.8