Ex-Market Basket Boss Wants To Buy Company

The former chief executive of the Market Basket supermarket chain whose ouster has led to employee protests, customer boycotts and empty shelves wants to buy the entire company.

Arthur T. Demoulas said in a statement Wednesday that he and his side of the family want to buy the 50.5 percent of the company now controlled by relatives who backed his firing last month.

Demoulas said the offer was a ``very full and fair one and should meet or exceed a seller's expectations of the value of the company.''

Demoulas was ousted by a family faction supporting his cousin, Arthur S. Demoulas. Both are grandsons of the company's founder and have been locked in a decades-long feud.

The Tewksbury, Massachusetts-based chain has 71 stores in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine.