Market Basket CEO Arthur T. Demoulas suspended. He calls it a "hostile takeover."

Market Basket CEO Arthur T. Demoulas has been suspended while his conduct is investigated by the company's board.

Demoulas said his daughter Madeline, his son Telemachus and several other executives were also placed on leave Wednesday. He called the investigation a "farcical cover for a hostile takeover." 

The move came more than ten years after Market Basket employees put their jobs on the line to defend him.

The Executive Board of Directors for the supermarket chain announced on Wednesday that Demoulas, better known as "Artie T," has been placed on paid administrative leave effective immediately. 

In a statement, the board said it is investigating "credible allegations that Mr. Demoulas began to plan a disruption of the business and operations of Market Basket with a work stoppage." 

"Hostile takeover" 

A spokesperson for Demoulas said he was "ousted" from his position as president and CEO by his three sisters and their three appointed board members - Jay Hachigian, Steven Collins, and Michael Keyes.

"The company is currently operating at its peak performance and the notion that this board is going to conduct an investigation is a farcical cover for a hostile takeover," Demoulas' spokesperson, Justine Griffin, said in a statement Wednesday.

The board said Wednesday that Demoulas, a minority shareholder who owns 28-percent of the company, "has also resisted an appropriate succession plan for Market Basket, asserting that he has the unilateral right to appoint his children to succeed him without any consideration of the view of the Board or the majority owners of Market Basket."

Market Basket 2014 boycott, protests

In 2014, Arthur T. Demoulas was forced out when the Market Basket board was controlled by his cousin, Arthur S. Demoulas. The move caused a customer boycott and the non-union employees walked off the job in protest.

The public pressure campaign worked, and a deal was reached weeks later to sell the Market Basket chain to Arthur T. Demoulas for nearly $1.6 billion, bringing the saga to an end. 

Demoulas' spokesperson said Wednesday the company paid off the $1.6 billion in debt financed to purchase the company in December of 2024. Last summer, to mark 10 years since the protests, Demoulas surprised workers with bonus checks. 

"Brewing for years"

Hachigian, the chairman of the board of directors, said there were no plans to sell the company. 

"This has been brewing for years and has nothing to do with the other stockholders," Hachigian told reporters Wednesday night outside Market Basket headquarters in Tewksbury. "We have worked hard to collaborate with Arthur, and it's been very difficult to do that even over the most basic corporate functions." 

Hachigian described a fractured relationship between the board and management, of which Demoulas leads as CEO, and suggested the plans for a work stoppage were in retaliation for the board's continued quest for answers and oversight. 

"Those are things we have tried for years to manage with him. It has been resisted, let's just say that," said Hachigian.

The board said they're concerned over how employees will take the news but do not fear a repeat of the 2014 protests. Hachigian also described the company as being in great shape and reiterated Demoulas was suspended, not fired, as the investigation continues. 

Market Basket shoppers reaction

"I run into guys who have worked here 30 years and when you mention it, they say they love working here," said Jeff Studley, a regular at the Tewksbury Market Basket. "Who works at a supermarket for 30 years, right? It goes to show you money will make you do some really funny things. Even to their relatives." 

"Again? Didn't that not work the first time?" said Dani Habert of Lowell. "Do they not remember all the protests? Wilmington, Tewksbury, everywhere. What is the end goal? They already tried that." 

Other shoppers, like Rachelle Lequin, said she fears the family will ultimately sell. 

"You go to the rest of the country, and they don't have anything like Market Basket. They don't know what you are talking about," said Lequin. "I don't want that to change."  

Market Basket says no changes

The company said employees and shoppers would not be impacted. 

"There will be no changes for the company's dedicated associates in their jobs, salaries and benefits, including the company's profit-sharing plan, and the ownership of the business will not change," the board said. "For shoppers, Market Basket will continue to provide its customers superior products and service at prices they have come to expect." 

Market Basket has 90 stores in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine and Rhode Island and employs 30,000 people.