Unilever is a British–Dutch multinational consumer goods company. Its products include foods, beverages, cleaning agents and personal care products. It is the world's third-largest consumer goods company measured by 2011 revenues (after Procter & Gamble and Nestlé) and the world's largest maker of ice cream.
Unilever is a dual-listed company consisting of Unilever N.V. in Rotterdam, Netherlands and Unilever PLC in London, United Kingdom. Both Unilever companies have the same directors and they operate as a single business. The current non-executive Chairman of Unilever N.V. and PLC is Michael Treschow while Paul Polman is Group Chief Executive.
Unilever PLC had a market capitalisation of £27.3 billion as of 23 December 2011, the 18th-largest of any company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange.
Unilever was founded on 1 January 1930 by Antonius Johannes Jurgens, Samuel van den Bergh and William Hulme Lever, 2nd Viscount Leverhulme.
The amalgamation of the operations of British soapmaker Lever Brothers and Dutch margarine producer Margarine Unie (a 1927 amalgamation of Anton Jurgens Margarinefabrieken N.V. and Samuel van den Bergh) made sound commercial sense, as palm oil was a major raw material for both margarines, and soaps, and could be imported more efficiently in larger quantities.
Paul Polman (born 11 July 1956, Enschede, Netherlands) is the CEO of the multinational Anglo-Dutch food and detergent company, Unilever.
From the University of Groningen he gained a BBA/BA in 1977. From the University of Cincinnati he gained an MA in Economics and an MBA in Finance and International Marketing (both) in 1979. He grew up in a town called Enschede and has 3 brothers and 2 sisters.
He has worked for Procter & Gamble for 27 years (from 1979), initially as a Cost Analyst, becoming Managing Director of P&G UK from 1995-8, President Global Fabric Care from 1998–2001, and Group President Europe in 2001.
He then joined Nestlé in 2006 as Chief Financial Officer and head of the Americas At Nestlé, he was replaced by Luis Cantarell.
On 1 January 2009, he succeeded Patrick Cescau as Chief Executive Officer of Unilever. This had been announced in September 2008. At this point in the company's (strictly) Anglo-Dutch history, its main headquarters are based in London and Rotterdam.
Polman has received honorary doctorates from Northumbria University (LLD, 2000) and the University of Cincinnati (2009). In 2011, he gave the Durland Lecture at Cornell University.