TEWKSBURY, Mass. — The board of directors at Market Basket says it is locked in a dispute with former CEO Arthur T. Demoulas over key company documents as the two sides prepare for a civil trial in Delaware in just 11 days.
According to The Boston Globe, the board has requested records related to budgeting, capital expenses, and succession planning, but claims many of those documents have not been provided. Market Basket officials say they’ve received only one page from a notebook, despite Demoulas telling the court he does not use email and instead keeps handwritten notes.
The board is reportedly seeking evidence that Demoulas encouraged his top executives to organize a boycott or walkout. Demoulas was fired in September after being accused of attempting to create a work stoppage. He is now countersuing to regain his position.
The trial is expected to draw significant attention, given the company’s history of internal power struggles and its loyal customer base.
Demoulas was initially put on leave in May to allow for an investigation into the allegations.
In the weeks that followed, several other executives loyal to Demoulas were fired, including Joseph Schmidt and Tom Gordon, who were both banned from setting foot on the grocery store chain’s property.
Schmidt and Gordon called their firings a “pre-planned coup” spearheaded by the Demoulas sisters, who are majority shareholders in Market Basket. The three Demoulas sisters, Frances Kettenbach, Glorianne Demoulas Farnham, and Caren Demoulas Pasquale, later voted to oust longtime board member Bill Shea, their brother’s last remaining ally.
Demoulas’ second firing came 10 years after he was fired by a board controlled by Arthur S. Demoulas, his cousin and rival. After being sacked, store workers staged a walkout in support of Arthur T. that lasted six weeks.
To protest, hundreds of warehouse workers and drivers refused to deliver fresh produce, leaving shelves depleted. Not only did the workers stick together, but customers soon followed by boycotting the stores in solidarity.
Customers began to shop elsewhere because they couldn’t find fresh food at Market Basket, while others stayed away in a show of support for workers and Arthur T. The usually crowded stores turned into ghost towns, with only a trickle of customers coming in.
After weeks of pressure from suppliers suffering lost revenue, and the governors of Massachusetts and New Hampshire getting involved in work negotiations, the company announced that an agreement had been reached for Arthur T. to pay $1.6 billion for the 50.5 percent share of the company owned by Arthur S. and other family members.
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