Market Basket Revolt Ends as Arthur T. Demoulas Wins Bid

Arthur T. Demoulas, the ousted Market Basket chief executive officer who inspired an employee revolt…

Arthur T. Demoulas, the ousted Market Basket chief executive officer who inspired an employee revolt to get him back, won his bid to buy the supermarket chain.

Demoulas and his sisters agreed to purchase the 50.5 per cent of Market Basket they don’t own from family members who fired him, the company said late yesterday in a statement. Financial terms weren’t released. Demoulas bid about $1.5 billion for the stake, valuing the Tewksbury, Massachusetts-based chain at about $3 billion, according to reports.

The deal ends a tumultuous summer stalemate that began in mid-July when 200 office and warehouse employees walked off the job in support of their boss. The protests triggered a slowdown that emptied shelves at the company’s 71 supermarkets in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine.

“Customers are cheering, they’re honking as they drive by and people are calling about deliveries again,” said Stephanie Schwechheimer, a store manager in Haverhill, Massachusetts, who added that she’s “overjoyed” by the news. “We can put this back together. We will do this together.”

Affectionately known as “Artie T.” by the company’s 25,000 employees, Demoulas was ousted 23 June by his cousin, Arthur S. Demoulas. The two sides of the family have been fighting for decades, hurling punches, lawsuits and accusations encompassing theft, betrayal and the misappropriation of funds.

Generous Wages

Citing generous wages for themselves and low prices for customers, the nonunion managers, cashiers and grocery baggers held placards outside their stores and staged four outdoor rallies. Customers boycotted their local Market Baskets, taping receipts from rival grocers to the windows.

“I was inspired by the fervor of the employee loyalty to Artie T,” said Eleanor Lynn of Salem, Massachusetts, a 20-year Market Basket customer who participated in the boycott. Lynn is going to her local store today “to high-five employees” and buy a handful of Market Basket gift cards “to get their cash flowing again.”

Artie T. Demoulas will return immediately with full operational authority, and all workers are welcome to come back, according to the statement.

Some industry analysts put the loss from the job action at more than $10 million a day. Supermarket News, a trade publication, ranks the company as the 34th-largest US grocery retailer, with $4.3 billion in annual sales.