Why was Market Basket CEO Arthur Demoulas fired? Reasons behind unceremonious termination and family feud explored

Market Basket President and CEO Arthur T. Demoulas was recently fired by the board members on September 9, 2025. Notably, the news comes around four months after he was put on administrative leave along with two other executives. The trio was being investigated by the board on allegations of putting a work stoppage, as per Mass Live.

Apart from firing Demoulas, the board members have additionally approached the Delaware Court of Chancery with a lawsuit. The board and Arthur have been involved in a dispute ever since the latter was put on leave.

According to Mass Live, the legal documents related to the case filed by the board addressed the reasons behind Arthur’s firing, as it says:

“Arthur T. Demoulas had a long-standing history of exercising his own unfettered discretion as to virtually every important decision at the Company – while ignoring and stonewalling the Market Basket Board.”

The lawsuit says that the new board members attempted to change the process of operating the company, aiming to put a check on the management at the same time. However, Demoulas was not ready to accept the same and had frequent disputes with the “Plaintiff Directors.”

The board has also alleged that Arthur tried to portray himself as the sole owner of Market Basket and did not prefer to listen to the Board on any occasion. Furthermore, the lawsuit claimed that Demoulas never provided any basic details related to the company or its plans to the board, and restricted the executives from meeting the board members.

Apart from these, the lawsuit says that Arthur T. Demoulas was allegedly aiming to let his children serve in the top positions of the company after his exit, and he never discussed with the board to check the capability of his children to join such high positions.

Demoulas family members have been involved in a dispute over Market Basket’s ownership

The board members of the company and Arthur T. Demoulas were aiming for a mediation, which eventually did not happen, leading to the firing of Arthur, as per CBS News. The news of Arthur’s firing was first revealed by board chairman Jay Hachigian.

Notably, the family of Demoulas is already having a dispute regarding the ownership of Market Basket. The issues started many years ago in the ‘90s when Arthur S. Demoulas, the cousin of T. Demoulas, became a majority owner based on a decision made by the court.

Although T. Demoulas joined the company in 2008, his family reportedly fired him around six years later. CBS News stated that T. Demoulas received support from multiple employees at the time, which left a bad impact on the operations of the company, including truck drivers not willing to deliver products.

The situation came under control when T. Demoulas and his three sisters finalized a deal worth $1.6 billion to purchase the company from S. Demoulas. Before his firing from the company in 2014, T. Demoulas contributed to expanding the company’s presence in places such as Maine.

Following the recent decision of the board members, a spokesperson for Arthur T. Demoulas, Justine Griffin, said in a statement obtained by Mass Live that the board never aimed to reinstate him. Griffin mentioned that Demoulas wanted to continue working for Market Basket and added:

“He knew that there was a path to resolution, and he was confident that, if the board shared these priorities, agreement could be reached. It became clear to us that this was not a good faith effort by the board or his sisters to reach agreement on the issues brought up during mediation.”

As of this writing, the company has not shared any update on whether they have started searching for a new CEO.