Today is the 24th of July 2014 and the Market Basket chain of supermarkets is in turmoil because the Demoulas’ family infighting has broken out in some sort of struggle for control of the corporation.
1917: Arthur and Ephosin Demoulas found Demoulas Market.
Today on the 24th of July 2014 I tried to call into New Hampshire Public Radio’s morning shoe The Exchange. This is the first time I’ve tried to inject my opinion into an on the air discussion. The host and guests on The Exchange were discussing the current state of affairs with Demoulas Market Basket stores, employees and family members. I remember growing up in a small town in western Massachusetts listening to an aunt refer to shopping at “Demoulas.” It was a few more years before tiny Athol, MA gained its own Demoulas Market Basket supermarket. Then the Demoulas name was dropped and the stores became know as Market Basket and I always wondered why. Now I know.
The guests and host on NHPR The Exchange including people writing in with e-mail and telephoning in with their own opinions were fully behind the management of Arthur T. Demoulas and feel that Artie T and he was referred to had been wronged by his cousin Arthur S. Demolas. I want to spoil this feel good fest by bringing up some facts about the past behavior of Artie T towards his uncles wife and children. These are facts in the public record, facts that have been adjudicated and proven on a court of law at a cost of 150 million dollars over a period of 10 years.
Facts starting with a little genealogy added for good measure. Arthur and his wife Ephrosin started their own business on Dummer Street in Lowell, Massachusetts in 1917 and made a go of their Market Basket grocery. Forty years later Arthur and Ephrosin sold their business to their sons George and Telemachus. George and Telemachus grew the Demoulas Supermarket into a chain of grocery stores and eventually executed mutual wills promising to take care of each other’s families should one of them pass away. Ownership of the Demoulas Supermarket chain was evenly divided 50-50. In 1971 George Demoulas died while on vacation in Greece leaving behind his wife Evanthea and son Arthur S. Demoulas. These people trusted their brother-in-law Telemachus and his son Arthur T. Demoulas to do the right thing by them and had no question about business decisions that Telemachus and Arthur T. made for them until Arthur S. was investigated for tax fraud in 1987. Arthur S. Demoulas’ response? Stock sale? What stock sale? I didn’t transfer any stock ownership. The ensuing investigation revealed that Artie T. as the press is now referring to Arthur T. Demoulas, Telemachus son had been quietly transferring George’s kid’s inheritance over to the domes of Telemachus and at this point in time Artie T. had acquired control or ownership of 92% of Demoulas Supermarkets. Sort of ironic then that the offer from Artie T. on the 23rd of July was to purchase his cousin’s controlling interest in the company. Huh?
Here’s the timeline I obtained from an August 21st 2000 article in Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly:
1957 Brothers George and Telemachus Demoulas buy the family business from their parents.
1964 George and Telemachus execute wills with their wives promising to take care of each others family.
1971 George dies while on vacation in Greece. George’s wife Evanthea signs legal documents presented to her by Telemachus.
1987 Evan Demoulas, George’s son, Arthur S. Demoulas’ brother is given a supoena and investigated for tax fraud.
1990 Arthur S. Demoulas files suit charging his uncle Telemachus Demoulas with fraud.
1994 The trial begins. On the 26th of May 1994 jurors find that Telemachus defrauded his late brother’s family of its share of stock and real estate in the grocery business.
On the 2nd of August 1995 after a trial that included the CFO’s inability to keep his story straight and a gap in the general ledger books that covered the time when the 17 store Demoulas Super Markets to the Market Basket chain of stores The family of George Demoulas was awarded 51% of the company.
You can read all about it here:
But Arthur T. Demoulas as the good guy? Not on your life. Arthur T. Demoulas is an excellent business man yes. As a human being? No.
