The Market Basket boardroom battle is a real-life ‘Succession' saga

Boston Globe

2 days ago

Demoulas's ouster is an example of the ugly maneuvering that can happen when the relationships underpinning a family business go sour. And some of the same dynamics that have made Market Basket one of the juiciest business stories of the century are strikingly similar to those that made HBO's boardroom epic a hit.
Kimberly Eddleston, a professor at Northeastern University who teaches courses on family-owned business management, said that the hallmarks of the show — 'the family infighting, the dysfunction from brothers, cousins, siblings; that absolute discord, not learning from past mistakes' — all appear to be happening at Market Basket.
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In both cases, the dysfunction can be traced back decades. In the first season of the show, family patriarch Logan Roy (played by Brian Cox) has long been estranged from his brother Ewan (James Cromwell), a fact that becomes pivotal to the schemes of Logan's son Kendall (Jeremy Strong). Similarly, the power struggle at Market Basket has its roots in the 1990s, when the families of two Demoulas brothers — the sons of founder Athanasios Demoulas — went to court over a dispute about company shares. (The cousins, Arthur S. and Arthur T., even got into a fistfight in court).
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The court eventually ruled in favor of Arthur S.'s side of the family, giving them majority control over the business. And yet, in 2008, a wayward board member on the Arthur S. side was the deciding vote to name Arthur T. as CEO.
The rivalry between the two branches erupted into all-out war in 2014, when the Arthur S. side of the family attempted to push out his cousin. Arthur T., who characterized it as a fight between shareholder profits versus lower prices and
employee benefits,
Employees and customers held a rally in support of Arthur T. Demoulas in 2014 in Tewksbury.
Suzanne Kreiter/Globe Staff
But
When the board's executive committee pushed Demoulas out on Thursday, they said that he had refused to cooperate with board members over budgeting, capital expenditures, and a clear succession plan.
The shifting family loyalties are also apparent, both on screen and in the grocery business. Like in 'Succession' — where Kendall is betrayed by brother Roman (Kieran Culkin) and sister Shiv (Sarah Snook) eventually takes sides against both — the move against Demoulas was apparently spearheaded by the same three sisters who had once helped him finance the 2014 buyout that kicked his cousin, Arthur S., out of the picture.
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'That's a real similarity, that shows you the lack of trust between family members, and the lack of communication too,' Eddleston said. 'It just created all this conflict and tension.'
Eddleston said that roughly 60 percent of family-owned businesses don't have a succession plan. Or, as in 'Succession,' 'the leader has one in his head, but doesn't communicate it, which is just as damaging.'
There are, of course, key differences from the show. For one thing, there is no Logan Roy figure holding everything together for Market Basket; family patriarch Athanasios Demoulas is long gone, and there's an argument to be made that the current jockeying is essentially the long-delayed fallout from his death.
Arthur T. Demoulas might even be closer to Kendall — the proverbial 'eldest boy' who (though he rarely conducts interviews) has shown he's willing to
And more obviously, 'Succession' took place in the halls and boardrooms of a massive, multinational media conglomerate — a far cry from a Tewskbury-based regional supermarket chain. The Roy children, for their part, would no doubt be uncomfortably out-of-place in an everyday grocery store environment.
Jesse Armstrong (center, holding trophy) and the cast and crew of "Succession" accepted the Outstanding Drama Series award onstage during the 74th Primetime Emmys on Sept. 12, 2022, in Los Angeles.
Kevin Winter/Getty
But both companies, real and fictional, inhabit a shifting industry landscape that makes their continued relevance uncertain. Just as Waystar Royco is shown straddling the gulf between cable news and digital media, Market Basket's peers are
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'Retail is brutal,' Eddleston said. 'It's a very tough industry, especially the grocery store industry. That could add pressure, all these changes and the level of competition.'
Arthur T. Demoulas has
The question of whether and how the company should modernize its shopping experience may be another factor in the turmoil.
'The board definitely sees some different visions,' Eddleston said, 'Which we definitely saw those conflicts play out in the show. '
Camilo Fonseca can be reached at