Business

“Mr. Demoulas will continue in his efforts to set right what has gone so wrong here,” a spokesperson for the ousted Market Basket leader said.

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Former Market Basket CEO Arthur T. Demoulas said Tuesday he won’t appeal a court ruling upholding his removal from power, even as he continued to accuse his sisters of orchestrating a coup to seize control of the family’s supermarket empire.

Demoulas “disagrees vehemently” with the April ruling from Delaware Court of Chancery Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster, spokesperson Justine Griffin said, “but continuing to fight about the future of Market Basket in courts that overwhelmingly favor decisions made by a Board of Directors, is not in the best interests of the company, the Associates, or the loyal customers.”

The April ruling affirmed that Market Basket’s board had the authority to oust Demoulas last fall after months of escalating corporate tensions and public mudslinging. Board members had previously suspended Demoulas, two of his children, and some of his top lieutenants amid allegations they were planning a work stoppage to get back at the board for demanding more transparency and collaboration. 

Demoulas “proved to be an excellent operator, but an imperious leader,” Laster’s ruling states. “He viewed himself as the best judge of what served Markets’ best interests, and he believed he had the power to take action without asking for the board’s permission.” 

Demoulas was previously removed from his job in 2014 over a similar dispute with a cousin, regaining power after customers boycotted Market Basket and supermarket workers staged walkouts. The most recent corporate feud pits Demoulas against his sisters — Caren Demoulas Pasquale, Frances Demoulas Kettenbach, and Glorianne Demoulas Farnham — who control a combined 61% of the company, compared to his 28% stake. 

“A year ago, Arthur T. Demoulas, his family, and his team were unceremoniously tossed out of the company that has been the life work of Arthur and his father before him,” Griffin alleged. “The removal was orchestrated by Arthur’s three sisters and their handpicked Board members. We told you at the time that this was a coup, and as it unfolded, people have now seen it was exactly that.”

She confirmed Demoulas’s decision not to appeal the April ruling, arguing the Delaware court “is simply not the right forum to resolve the broader issues at stake.”

“Mr. Demoulas will continue in his efforts to set right what has gone so wrong here,” Griffin added.