Thousands Rally To Save Market Basket CEO's Job
BOSTON (CBS) -- The future of regional grocery store Market Basket is being decided in Andover.
Related: Big Changes Could Be Coming To Market Basket
A shareholders meeting could see popular CEO Arthur T. Demoulas fired by board members led by his cousin, Arthur S. Demoulas.
Over one thousand people turned out Thursday morning to support the current CEO.
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Mark Katic reports
Thousands Rally To Save Market Basket CEO's Job
Market Basket does well -- debt free with $217 million profit last year.
That's at the heart of the problem.
CEO Arthur T. Demoulas is known for being generous to employees.
"He takes care of people," an employee named Craig told WBZ NewsRadio 1030. "When you look at people's name tags you'll see they have 20, 30, 40 years with the company. There's a reason for that."
On the other hand, Arthur S. Demoulas wants to be generous to shareholders like himself.
They've received $500 million in dividends over the past 10 years.
He thinks it should be 1-and-a-half billion.
Customers fear what could become of Market Basket:
"I'm so afraid the new people take over and then you see the prices go sky high," a customer said.
The board is expected to vote Thursday afternoon.
